Black-white life expectancy gap expands

Black Americans saw no improvement in life expectancy, remaining at 74 years and three months...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

From Huffington Post

For nearly two decades, the expected life spans of black and white Americans steadily narrowed, offering a hopeful indication of both racial progress and medical success: Everyone was living longer, and the gap was closing.

Then came 2009. For all Americans, the average life expectancy again nudged up for the year, reaching 78 years and two months according to preliminary figures from the Centers for Disease Control. But black Americans saw no improvement in life expectancy, remaining at 74 years and three months.

Some experts construe this unanticipated widening of the black-white life expectancy gap as a product of the Great Recession.

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