Cheaper alternatives to full health insurance cover

Medical Expenses
If you are happy for your medical insurance cover to be limited to surgical treatment only, you could consider Major Medical Expenses (MME) insurance, which pays out a tax-free cash sum if you undergo surgery – though it is sometimes limited to certain operations.
A major advantage is that MME costs significantly less than full private medical insurance and has the advantage that you can spend the money as you choose (on child-care costs while you are in hospital or a recuperative holiday, for example); although some medical expenses insurers halve the payout of you are treated under the NHS. The main disadvantage is that there is no guarantee that the lump sum payout will be sufficient to pay for private medical treatment.

Hospital Cash Plan
This type of cover pays a small tax-free cash sum for each day you are treated as an in-patient or day-patient, either privately or on the NHS.
This type of health insurance may be combined with a range of other cash benefits: cash payments if you need dental treatment or chiropody, for example, or if you become pregnant.
However, because the payouts are small and because they may not be paid until you have had the policy for a mnimum period of at least six months, the benefits you are likely to get from a hospital cash plan may be too low to make it worth considering.

See also:
Permanent Health Insurance
Critical Illness Insurance
Life Insurance
Accident and sickness cover