Cash plans have become as popular as health insurance among UK workers.
A study, conducted on behalf of PMI Health Group, has discovered 11% of staff rank cash plans as their most valued benefit.
Private medical insurance (PMI) also received 11% of vote amongst surveyed employees.
However, contributory pensions proved the most popular benefit (31%), followed by life insurance (12%).
According to the study, cash plans rise in popularity among those who earn less than the UK's average salary of £27,000 a year, with 13% of these employees choosing it as their most valued benefit. In contrast, only 8% of these lower wage earners value PMI highest.
This trend is reversed among those earning more than the national average - 13% of whom value PMI the highest with only 8% choosing cash plans.
Mike Blake, Director PMI Health Group, said: "Cash plans compliment traditional health insurance and their relatively low tax liability makes them a particularly attractive benefit option."
"By covering a variety of essential day-to-day healthcare needs - from optical and dental to chiropractic and physiotherapy - they enjoy a high perceived value for staff, despite representing a low cost policy to employers."
"Budgetary constraints can make PMI provision for an entire workforce financially prohibitive but cash plans and other innovative new healthcare policies, such as flexible hybrid schemes, offer viable, inclusive, alternatives."
