 She told me she had noticed it six months before, but she did not go to her doctor. When I asked why, she said she feared the bills she would leave her family. By the time she came to us, what had been a treatable cancer was now widely metastatic, and all she wanted was relief from her unremitting pain. When my patients shared concerns about medical bills, I used to try to reassure them. But as I came to learn, patients are right to fear this debt.