Older Americans may forego elective surgeries because they are worried about out-of-pocket expenses and time away from work, along with potential exposure to COVID-19.

This is according to a study by the University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, which discovered that these factors tend to dissuade older Americans from going through with surgeries more than concerns about pain or the recovery process.

Nearly half of those who said they were very concerned about cost and more than half of those who were very concerned about taking time off of work ended up not having a surgery they were considering, the study found. However, those who were concerned about surgery-related pain were just as likely as those with no concerns about pain to go ahead with surgery.

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