The New Brunswick government is looking at cutting some elective medical services it pays for in order to deal with a budget deficit.

Health Minister Madeleine Dubé said she wants to cut $800,000 from the current Medicare budget.

But, she said the province is not considering de-insuring services such as cataract surgery and hip replacements.

"It was the Medical Society just giving some example of what is elective surgery, type of surgery in that category. It's like a long, long list. But, obviously, I want to reassure people that cataract is insured and will continue to be insured and hip replacement and all those examples that were mentioned it's not part of any consideration," Dubé said.

"We're looking here at minor intervention."

Dubé said she's meeting with the New Brunswick Medical Society Wednesday to figure out which elective procedures can be cut from Medicare.

Details of the proposals will remain confidential until an agreement is reached. Once that happens, changes would have to be introduced under the Medical Services Payment Act.

Any changes would be included in draft regulations that will be posted for public review on the provincial government's website.

With files from the Canadian Press