The US Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday unveiled a pilot program for the National Institutes of Health to tap into Medicare and Medicaid data in its search for the root causes of a

Roughly 36 percent of Americans are enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid, meaning their sensitive data could be targeted.

Federal health agencies will create a database of autism patients enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid that researchers will use to study the causes of autism spectrum disorder, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.