Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The nature of any means test is that there will always be people who are just a few euro above the threshold. No matter where the threshold is set that will unfortunately always be the case. I acknowledge the point the Deputy makes, that the income limits have not increased in a very long time and have not taken account of inflation or rising incomes. However, the number of people who qualify for a full medical card is 2.095 million and an additional 535,000 people qualify for GP visit cards. Money was provided in the budget to increase the income limit with respect to GP visit cards and the person the Deputy mentioned would qualify once they are implemented, at least for a GP visit card, but that is under discussion with the Irish Medical Organisation.

See this speech in context