Now if we could only close the gaps in life-expectancy by race

Gender seems to be doing so.

From the newsfeed for what's new on PubMed:

Life expectancy for Americans surpassed 78 years for the first time in 2006, and life span increases occurred for both men and women, the National Center for Health Statistics recently reported. American women continue to outlive men. The record life expectancy for both white and African-American women was almost 77 and 71 years, respectively. But male life expectancy jumped too (at 76 and 70 years respectively for white and African-Americans)...

You can also listen to the NLM (National Library of Medicine) Director's Comments on the Increase in U.S. Life Expectancy. The transcript is also available.