“If you’re thinking about making a change to your healthcare system … ask yourself one question: Does America do that thing?” Dr Will Flanary, better known online as Dr Glaucomflecken, told the Royal Australian College of Surgeons’ annual scientific congress on Sunday.

“If America does that thing … let me just say, don’t do that.”

Australians have long treated the US health system as a cautionary tale, and since the return of Donald Trump, they have only grown more unimpressed with what they see happening across the Pacific.