An extra $405m will be spent on health this year, with $47m coming from savings in the sector and $358m coming from elsewhere in the Budget.
Health Minister Tony Ryall said the Government would spend $14.2 billion on health in the coming year - the largest health budget to date - despite tight financial times.
Some $20m in health savings would come from a previously signaled increase in prescription charges from $3 to $5 per item, with a cap on charges on 20 items per year.
Mr Ryall said no family would pay more than $40 extra a year under the change, which comes into effect on January 1 next year.
Another $88.1m will come from the Government's plans to partially sell state-owned energy companies, with most of the funding going towards hospital redevelopments.
A further $3.4m will come from changes to the residential care tax exemption, with annual adjustments changing from a $10,00 flat increase to a yearly inflation adjustment.
The amount of revenue generated from the change would increase in coming years.
New health spending over four years will include $33m to improve cancer treatment, $16m to speed up diagnostic testing and scans, $48m for faster elective surgery, $133m for disability services and $20.5m for maternity services.
The funding includes $16m in IT systems to provide faster access to test results.
Another $4m would be spent on a national register of patients treated for heart conditions, which was a key recommendation of the New Zealand Cardiac Network.
Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia said $6m would go towards a fund to improve
Pacific people's health, which she described as Whanau Ora for Pacific people.
"This fund will help empower Pasifika communities to determine and achieve their own measures of wellbeing."
In a move signaled before the Budget, the extra cancer funding would go towards 40 new specialised cancer nurses who would act as a single point of contact for cancer patients.
Mr Ryall said patients would have faster access to specialists once cancer was suspected and faster access to treatment once diagnosed.
District health boards would achieve that by collecting data at key points of a patient's treatment from July 1, he said.
"The more we know, the better we can identify issues that lead to delays and frustrations for patients," he said.
"For instance, instead of a patient visiting hospital several times for different tests, departments should coordinate appointments so they are all completed in one day."
