Social Security Pioneers

First Part-B Medicare Application Returned By A Member of the Public

President Lyndon Johnson (right) Secretary of HEW John Gardner (second from left) and SSA Commissioner Bob Ball (left) received the first Medicare Part-B application form from a member of the general public, Mr. Tony Palcaorolla, of Baltimore, Maryland (next to President Johnson). Shortly after enactment of the legislation, SSA sent a mass mailing of application forms to all Social Security beneficiaries near or over age 65. Mr. Palcaorolla's completed and returned form was the symbolic first received from this mailing. September 1, 1965. SSA History Archives.