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The next government legal fiasco?
Read more about: Economy, Health, Social Policy 
Consider the following hypothetical situation. Two people both aged, say 76, with identical current incomes (e.g. state contributory pension plus a little deposit interest). Both now have medical cards. One got it under the pre-2002 means test due to lower income in some previous year than the other person.The other person got it under the 2002 expansion. As I understand the latest announcement, the government now proposes to means test the second person but not the first. And the second will lose their medical card since they have income on top of the pension. But their current financial situations are identical. Don’t they have to means test everybody to ensure equality before the law (Article 40 of the Constitution)? [edit: last clause added for clarity]
I thought with income thresholds you had to lose the card if your income changed to exceed the threshold or the threshold was changed by the government? In the latter case you would have 3 years before it would be gone, or you would have under the existing legislation.
In other one the first person has already been through a means test and provided their means having changed they wouldn’t be tested again. I think a problem that someone from the Older People Citizen’s Parliament mentioned was that the previous income thresholds prior to 2002 were higher than the new proposed ones. Which might be what you’re referring to.
At the very least the lack of clarity about who gets mean tested and how the threshold will relate to the previous one is causing confusion. But it seems to be that they are at high risk of a situation where people in similar circumstances are treated differently.