Although American life expectancy is still lower than 14 other countries including Japan and Italy, it has reached a new high of almost 78 according to a recent government report.

Both men and women are living longer, although the average for women is 80.4 years and the average for men is 75.3 years. This five year gap is actually an improvement from about a decade ago when it was closer to 10 years between sexes.

The leading causes of death are still heart disease and cancer, but interestingly, Alzheimer’s has moved up to sixth place from seventh. This is a disturbing trend for potential long-term care needs in the future.

Although increasing our overall life expectancy is a good thing it also means that more care is usually needed before the end of life and this is a further reason why long-term care insurance makes more sense today than ever before.