Patients hate American health care. But presidential candidates aren't talking about it.

If only Cindy Russo had a spare $200 two years ago, she might have avoided her current nightmare.

Doctors might have caught her cancer sooner if she hadn't put off a mammogram, knowing it would lead to an ultrasound not fully covered by insurance.

And they might have found it sooner if, when she did get around to scheduling an ultrasound, an overdue bill from the last one hadn't caused further delay.

So as it was, Russo, 47, of Long Island, New York, went a few years between mammograms. When she finally got checked out ‒ when the pain finally drove her to stop putting it off ‒ there were three cancerous lumps in her breast.

Now, the single mother of two boys, 8 and 11, is even more cash-strapped.

The helplessness she feels in the face of a scary diagnosis, unending bills and a system that feels rigged against her is all too familiar to vast numbers of Americans.

A recent poll shows about three-quarters of Americans worry about the cost and availability of health care.

But other than talking about reducing the cost of some medications ‒ a favorite topic of President Joe Biden's ‒ and how much of Medicare spending can be considered "wasteful," the leading presidential candidates have been largely silent about health care on the campaign trail.

(Read the rest of the story on USATODAY.com.)