While I am the first to shout "Hey, hands off my pension!", It should be noted that the reason the state pension is sacred is because pensioners vote, while people of modest means who are reliant on the NHS for health care don't.
In truth, either directly or indirectly through the 'Bank of Mum & Dad', much of the economic activity in the UK is funded by the state pension. So, tampering with it [the state pension] would have wide ranging, very nasty and entirely unexpected consequences. (Think Liz Truss)
The real irony of course is that to fund the state pension, we require a young, healthy and hard working immigrants, yet pensioners are the ones most opposed to immigration and the biggest supporters of Brexit. Talk about
circle squaring 🙄