Maybe it's confirmation bias, but I strongly agree with Jake's observations; working in a related field, I'm ever-more struck by the absolute inequality of care offered to people. Of course, obvious societal inequalities (e.g. socioeconomic status, age) have an impact here, but there are less obvious issues which can have quite an impact: one's level of education multiplied by confidence to interact with (rather than just be a passenger within) the system can have a big impact. And there's sheer dumb luck, too - being physically located near a good center, or having a good doctor (many aren't) who specialises in your cancer available to you, or even just having an acquaintance who can support and guide with research and advice, can have a 'Sliding Doors'-like impact on the course of someone's life.
(If anyone knows meaningful work that's being done to address such issues, I'd be very interested to hear...)