Except that the requirements for what counts as eligible vary for each program, and the government can’t use anything the person being means tested reported directly because they could be lying, but still has to ask with a bunch of legally binding forms with the important questions hidden in dozens of pages of questions so they can prosecute fraud, so means testing also has to talk with third parties like the person’s place of work, bank, and energy company to verify that they arn’t a cent over the cutoff and don’t have any hidden assets or investments.

You also have to verify the persons identity, dig up their immigration history, and all these hours of research are to make sure the person in question is deserving of a discount. If a program has means testing but doesn’t require all of this research, it will get added on because what if a handful of people take advantage of a copon? Surely it can’t be that hard to make sure their deserving?