Zurich Futura Critical Illness List - Updated 2025

One illness can disrupt your income and one payout can help protect your future.

Zurich Futura’s Critical Illness Benefit is designed to do just that — offer financial protection when life takes an unexpected turn.

This post provides the updated list of critical illnesses covered, along with key details about how the benefit works, who it’s for, and how it integrates with your life cover.

What is Critical illness cover?

Critical Illness Cover is a living benefit that pays you when illness threatens your income, independence, and peace of mind.

Even if you have no financial dependents, if you rely on your income, this cover is essential.

It pays a cash lump sum amount if you’re diagnosed with a major illness, become permanently disabled, or undergo a covered medical procedure like a major organ transplant.

This money helps you:

• Cover treatment costs and Fund recovery

• Maintain your lifestyle

• Pay off loans

• Or even retire early if needed

“In Zurich’s latest claims report, the youngest critical illness claimant was just 19 — and the average age was 49. This is not just for later in life. It's for the real-life risks that can strike while you’re in your prime.”

It’s a financial safety net — giving you breathing space when your health takes a hit.

Source-Claims report 2025

Critical Illness Cover vs. Medical Insurance

Medical Insurance pays for your treatment — hospital bills, surgeries, doctor visits, and medications.

But what about the rest?

💸 Rent or mortgage
🍽️ Groceries
🎓 School fees
🧾 EMIs and daily expenses

These don’t stop — even if you can’t work.

That’s where Critical Illness Cover comes in:

While Medical Insurance pays the hospital, Critical Illness Cover pays you — to spend however you need

Use it to:

• Replace lost income

• Support your family

• Focus on recovery

• Keep life moving

Medical Insurance helps you survive. Critical Illness Cover helps you live — with dignity, security, and control.

Why Critical Illness Cover Matters More Than Ever

Critical Illness Cover is perhaps the most valuable rider you can add to Zurich Futura — or any life insurance plan.

With modern medicine, people are increasingly surviving major health conditions that once meant certain death. But survival is only one part of the story.

Recovery can take months, sometimes years — and during that time, many are unable to earn an income.

One of my clients, a C-suite executive, was diagnosed with Advanced Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and underwent a triple bypass surgery.

The good news? They survived.

The bad news?

Their body could no longer handle the demands of a high-stress corporate role. They were forced to retire a decade earlier than planned.

Fortunately, they had taken the right steps early — with $2,000,000 of Critical Illness Cover and a well-diversified portfolio across real estate, retirement plans, and investments.

That one payout changed everything. It gave them the freedom to recover, retire early, and maintain their lifestyle without financial stress.

Now imagine if they didn’t have that cover.
No income. Mounting medical expenses. And years of financial uncertainty ahead.

That’s the kind of risk Zurich Futura’s Critical Illness Benefit is designed to eliminate.

Between 2022 and 2024, Zurich paid over $241 million in claims, with 4 out of 5 female CI claimants claiming for cancer, and 1 in 2 men claiming for heart-related illnesses. This shows how common — and claimable — these risks truly are. - Source - Claims report 2025

Click here to read the detailed review of Futura

Key Details You Should Know

✅ Entry Age & Coverage Duration

You can add Critical Illness Benefit to your Zurich Futura plan if you're between 18 and 64 years old. Most of the covered conditions remain in force up to age 95, offering long-term peace of mind.

✅ Deferment Period

This benefit comes with a 90-day waiting period (from the policy start date or benefit commencement). If a critical illness is diagnosed during this period, it will not be eligible for a claim.

✅ Maximum Sum Assured

The maximum cover available is the lower of $2,000,000 or your selected life cover amount. In other words, you can’t have more critical illness cover than life cover.

✅ Inclusive Benefit

The Zurich Futura Critical Illness Benefit is inclusive, not additional.
This means any payout made under this benefit reduces your life cover by the same amount.

For example:
If you have a $500,000 life cover and claim $400,000 under critical illness,
your remaining life cover will be $100,000 — payable to your beneficiary upon death

Full List of Critical Illnesses Covered under Zurich Futura

The Critical Illness Benefit covers the following conditions:

1. Aorta graft surgery – for disease and trauma

2. Aplastic anaemia – resulting in permanent symptoms

3. Bacterial meningitis – resulting in permanent symptoms

4. Benign brain tumour – resulting in permanent symptoms

5. Blindness – permanent and irreversible

6. Cancer – excluding less advanced cases

7. Cardiomyopathy

8. Children’s critical illness

9. Coma – resulting in permanent symptoms

10. Coronary artery by-pass grafts – with surgery to divide the breastbone

11. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease – requiring continuous assistance

12. Deafness – permanent and irreversible

13. Dementia (including Alzheimer’s disease) before age 65 – resulting in permanent symptoms

14. Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) of the Breast – with specific treatment (Partial Payment)

15. Encephalitis

16. Heart attack – of specified severity

17. Heart failure

18. Heart valve replacement or repair – with surgery to divide the breastbone

19. HIV infection – caught in a specified country* from a blood transfusion, physical assault, or work in an eligible occupation

20. Kidney failure – requiring dialysis

21. Liver failure – end stage

22. Loss of hands or feet – permanent physical severance

23. Loss of independent existence – resulting in permanent symptoms

24. Loss of speech – total, permanent and irreversible

25. Lung disease – end-stage/respiratory failure of specified severity

26. Major organ transplant*

27. Motor neurone disease – resulting in permanent symptoms

28. Multiple sclerosis – with persisting symptoms

29. Open heart surgery – with surgery to divide the breastbone

30. Paralysis of limbs – total, permanent and irreversible

31. Parkinson’s disease before age 65 – resulting in permanent symptoms

32. Primary pulmonary arterial hypertension – resulting in permanent symptoms

33. Stroke – with permanent symptoms

34. Systemic lupus erythematosus – of specified severity

35. Third-degree burns – covering 20% of the body’s surface area or 50% of the face’s surface area

36. Traumatic head injury – with permanent symptoms

These are not rare or abstract illnesses. Zurich data shows that Cancer and Heart Disease account for over 90% of claims, proving how relevant and accessible this benefit truly is.

⚠️ Important Notes:

• Some conditions, such as HIV or major organ transplant, must be diagnosed or treated in specific countries.

• The full list of eligible countries includes UAE, UK, USA, India, most of Europe, Australia, and others (refer to policy terms and conditions for detailed and lay person definitions and the list of countries)

What if You're Not Eligible for Full CI Cover?

If you're unable to get full Critical Illness Cover due to pre-existing conditions, there's an alternative:
Zurich’s Cancer Cover — a simplified benefit focused specifically on cancer-related conditions.

Just like Critical Illness Cover, it pays a lump sum amount on diagnosis or covered medical procedure.

The payout reduces your life cover accordingly, but provides vital financial support during a life-altering health crisis.

💬 “Isn’t Critical Illness Cover Only for Very Advanced Cases?”

This is a common concern — and an understandable one.

Many people believe that critical illness cover is only useful in extreme, rare, or late-stage cases. But the latest Zurich Claims Report (2025) proves otherwise.

Here are some eye-opening facts from the Middle East region (2022–2024):

• $241 million in claims paid over 3 years

• 98% of life claims were approved and paid

• Majority of claims were for common and treatable illnesses:

  • 51% for Cancer

  • 41% for Heart Attack & Stroke

• Average age of critical illness claimants: 50 years

• Youngest claimant was just 19 years old

So no — it's not just for late-stage conditions. In fact, the most common CI claims are for early-to-mid stage cancers and cardiovascular events — things that strike people while they’re working, raising families, or paying off mortgages.

🙋 Ready to Take the First Step?

You insure your car. You insure your home. Isn’t it time you insured your ability to earn?

Your health is your most valuable asset — and Critical Illness Cover ensures that a diagnosis doesn’t derail your life plans.

✅ Protect your income, your lifestyle, and your peace of mind
✅ Take action while you're healthy and eligible
✅ Gain confidence that you’re prepared — no matter what life throws at you

 Click here to book a Discovery Call

Let’s build a protection plan that stands strong — so you can focus on living fully.