Arthur E. Hess (June 18, 1916 – November 15, 2005), former acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, was born in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Shortly after graduating from Princeton, he took his first government job as a field representative for the Social Security Administration.

[2] Hess was named as the director of the Bureau of Health Insurance in 1965, placing him as the first executive in charge of the Medicare program.

At the time, the program provided health insurance to 19 million Americans.

Medicare,” he was praised for bringing together private insurers, hospitals and government agencies to make the program successful, according to news reports at the time.