New Zealand earmarks NZ$5.5B for health services in 2025 budget

NEW ZEALAND – New Zealand has announced a significant increase in healthcare funding as part of its 2025 national budget.

A total of NZ$5.5 billion (US$ 3.33 billion) will go toward improving hospitals, public health, primary care, and specialist services.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis made the announcement during her presentation of the 2025/26 budget on May 22.

Described as “The Growth Budget,” this is the second budget introduced by the Sixth National Government, with a strong focus on boosting health, education, and the economy.

As part of the healthcare package, NZ$1 billion has been allocated to Pharmac, the agency responsible for purchasing medicines, to help provide new cancer treatments and broaden the range of drugs available to patients.

To ease pressure on emergency services, NZ$447 million will be used to expand urgent and after-hours care across the country.

Cities such as Dunedin, Counties Manukau, Whangārei, Palmerston North, and Tauranga will see improvements in healthcare access over the next four years.

The Vote Health portion of the budget includes investments in medicines, primary care, infrastructure upgrades, and new initiatives.

One key change is the plan to allow prescription lengths to be extended from three months to a full year when it’s safe to do so — an initiative expected to start in early 2026.

Other highlights include extra support for primary care services, better transfers for elderly patients from hospitals to residential care, funding for the Health and Disability Commissioner to handle complaints, and a new approach to handling mental health crisis calls with expanded response teams.

To support long-term healthcare needs, NZ$1.013 billion has been set aside for health infrastructure projects.

This includes rebuilding Nelson Hospital, upgrading the emergency department at Wellington Regional Hospital, and improving ageing hospital facilities in Auckland and Palmerston North.

Smaller projects will also be funded nationwide. These investments are part of a 10-year Health Infrastructure Plan announced earlier in April.

This year’s budget also continues a multi-year funding plan started in 2024 to help frontline health services cope with rising costs and population growth.

Through this plan, NZ$16.68 billion will be spread across three budgets to support services such as emergency departments, aged care, and public health, as well as to help retain healthcare workers.