Americans have disparate access to retirement plans

Yet about 40 percent of full-time private sector workers in the U.S. lack access to an employer-based retirement saving plan.

Not doing so could mean facing a population unable to take care of itself in the future, which could put undue strain on programs like Medicaid, food assistance programs and other support services.

Illinois, for one, created a state-run retirement savings program for certain employees without workplace access; it will start enrolling workers in 2017.

The lack of access also underscores and overall sense of retirement insecurity in the U.S. Only 21 percent of American workers are very confident they will have enough money for a comfortable retirement, according to a 2016 survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute; 42 percent are somewhat confident and 19 percent are not at all confident.