As states are increasingly looking at ways to reduce their Medicaid spending, a study says that a state-sponsored retirement plan could lead the way toward that goal.

The study from Segal Consulting, titled "State Retirement Savings Initiatives Do More than Enhance Retirement Security for Private Sector Workers," found that whether states give individuals access to a retirement plan "marketplace" or create a path toward retirement savings some other way, there is "a positive correlation between increased retirement savings sufficient to remove a percentage of currently vulnerable households off the poverty rolls by the time they retire, and a reduction in Medicaid spending."

In its analysis, Segal used data from Medicaid, savings rates and data by income level from the current census to estimate the impact of increased savings on Medicaid participation rates at retirement for the 50 states and District of Columbia.