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The Accident Compensation Corporation put forward proposals which would have gone much further in cutting benefits to accident victims than those unveiled last week.
Among the ideas floated were a two-year limit on compensation in some cases, and a $100 excess on every claim, the Sunday Star-Times reports.
The newspaper says it obtained a "shopping list" of ACC proposals to pare back compensation entitlements as it dealt with a $4.8 billion blowout.
Other proposals included reducing income compensation from 80% to 70% after one year and 60% after two.
And imposing a two-year limit on compensation for soft tissue injuries, such as back pain.
An ACC spokesman has told the newspaper the proposals had been discussed at a ministerial level but said it was nothing more than "kicking the tyres".
A spokesman for the minister has confirmed the discussions, but insists they did not go to cabinet and are not part of changes now being debated.
Meanwhile opening up parts of ACC to private competition remains under discussion as the government looks for the votes it needs to enact changes to the scheme.
ACC Minister Nick Smith announced the changes - reduced entitlements and increased levies - on Wednesday and published a draft bill, but he needs support from either ACT or the Maori Party to get a bare majority on a first reading.
Smith is talking to both parties and ACT leader Rodney Hide has confirmed he has put his party's competition policy on the table.
"The issue is do you stay with the state-run system, where you don't have any choice, or are there some opportunities - this is what we're exploring - where you open it up and allow a bit of choice," he told TV One News.
It is National party policy to investigate opening up the part of the scheme that covers work-related personal injuries to private competition, but it hasn't shown any enthusiasm for doing that.
