Classical Mechanics: Hospitals Rule

Episode II of the NYT's series on class in America is up, with Janny Scott's Life at the Top in America Isn't Just Better, It's Longer. Three people, three economic classes, and three heart attacks, with divergence in care and results. The most striking difference appears to be in the hospitals where they first showed up, but the difference in care continues.

This kind of anecdotal story isn't expecially impressive to me, because so many aspects could just be accidental - the rich guy having heart attack close to a good hospital, for example. It's a long article, but the following three paragraphs present the theme:

Class informed everything from the circumstances of their heart attacks to the emergency care each received, the households they returned to and the jobs they hoped to resume. It shaped their understanding of their illness, the support they got from their families, their relationships with their doctors. It helped define their ability to change their lives and shaped their odds of getting better.

Class is a potent force in health and longevity in the United States. The more education and income people have, the less likely they are to have and die of heart disease, strokes, diabetes and many types of cancer. Upper-middle-class Americans live longer and in better health than middle-class Americans, who live longer and better than those at the bottom. And the gaps are widening, say people who have researched social factors in health.

As advances in medicine and disease prevention have increased life expectancy in the United States, the benefits have disproportionately gone to people with education, money, good jobs and connections. They are almost invariably in the best position to learn new information early, modify their behavior, take advantage of the latest treatments and have the cost covered by insurance.

It would have been interesting to me to contrast these cases with similar ones in, say France or another country with national health insurance. The differences due to education and judgement would seem likely to endure, so how much would that affect results?