Affordable health insurance: budgeting your spend

In times when the wider economic backdrop isn't quite as bright as we would obviously prefer it to be, it's natural to want to make a few savings here and there. Things like:

• choosing a higher MPG model when purchasing your next vehicle
• trading down when buying groceries
• visiting the cinema and making fewer trips for other leisure activities
• staycationing - in other words, taking your holidays closer to home

Chances are that if you ever do market research type surveys such as YouGov polls, then you'll have encountered a fair few questionnaires about household expenses and the savings you've been aiming to make during the time since the downturn became a reality for all of us back in 2008.

When it comes to medical cover, then there is actually a good variety of options available for you and your family where you can make savings. Cheap health insurance plans mean you can select the level of cover that you require - and it also means not paying for anything that you don't need.

How it works is that you choose the basic cover, then if you require any cover additionally you can add more depending on the coverage that suits your needs. On top of this there are other ways of brining down the cost - such as adding an excess to your health cover policy. Another way to bring down the cost is if your provider has a type of insurance whereby you're treated on the NHS if the waiting list is within a certain time, and if the list is longer than the specified time, you get private treatment at soonest available date.

Keeping yourself healthy in a recession doesn't mean having to spend more money than you need to, which is why insurance providers offer affordable policy types. And since they're flexible they give you a choice in terms of what level of cover you can purchase.