Data Mining in Medicare Data?

The LA Times editorial page thinks it would be a good idea to mine the health care data accumulated by Medicare for research purposes:

Medicare's Bright Idea: "Somehow it always comes as a surprise when a huge government bureaucracy proposes something sensible, efficient and geared to the public good. This time the happy shock comes from Medicare.

Smart people at the agency have put forth the idea of using its massive databank of patient information to spot potential problems with drugs more quickly. So why is the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees drug approval and safety, dragging its feet?"

I'm almost always for more knowledge but... Even though it's probably possible to separate data on medical problems and treatments from personal information, my perception is that it's a tough sell in this country. We aren't like Finland, which is more homogenous and more "regimented" (in the sense of having national ID cards and national databases). I wait with interest to see if the FDA agrees to this and gets it by Congress. It only takes one person in Congress to stick a provision in the appropriations bill to kill it.