John Payne Geyman, MD, a devoted husband, father, physician, pilot, educator and advocate for single payer national health insurance, passed away peacefully at his home in Friday Harbor, Washington, on May 28, 2026, at age 95.

Geyman wrote many books on our broken health care system and what we can do about it – including How Obamacare is Unsustainable: Why We Need a Single Payer Solution for All Americans and Profiteering Corruption and Fraud in U.S. Healthcare.

Corporate Crime Reporter interviewed Geyman five times over the years, most recently in October 2025 about his last book — Growing Costs of U.S. Health Care, Corporate Power vs. Human Rights, Is Reform Finally Within Reach?

“My book looks back fifty or sixty years,” Geyman told Corporate Crime Reporter in that interview. “And every time this issue comes up as a national issue, the question is asked – what can we do differently? And every time, the corporate and financial interests in health care win.” 

“Compared to other countries in the world, we are not doing well in terms of health outcomes. And that is because we continue with a multi-payer system while other countries have some version of a single payer system. Every time this question comes up, the result is a continued multi-payer system that just doesn’t work. We always turn down national health insurance.”

“But for a real fix, we need single payer national health insurance to assure access for everyone in the country to health care. It’s also a morally correct way to administer that health care.”

Born in Santa Barbara, California in 1931, Geyman graduated from Princeton University in 1952, served three years in the Navy, and graduated from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine in 1960.

A two-week preceptorship with a rural family doctor in Dunsmuir, California and two years of general practice residency in Santa Rosa, California sparked his passion for community-based family medicine.

With his wife Gene and growing family, John moved to Mount Shasta, California in 1962 where he had a rural general practice. 

In 1969, he transitioned to academia and played an important role in helping to develop family medicine as a new medical specialty. 

After starting a family medicine residency in Santa Rosa, California, he became a professor and led departments of family medicine at the University of Utah and University of California, Davis. 

He then chaired the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Washington for fourteen years before returning to rural practice as a family physician on San Juan Island in 1991.

A prolific writer, John authored more than 160 journal articles and numerous books relating to health care, books about his life as a pilot, and a book about losing his wife, Gene, to Alzheimer’s – Souls on a Walk. 

After retiring from medical practice in 1997, he became a tireless advocate for health care reform, writing books championing a not-for-profit national health insurance program, and serving as an active member and past president of Physicians for a National Health Program.

An avid and adventurous pilot for over 60 years, John’s passion for flying knew no bounds. 

He flew Cessnas, taildraggers, floatplanes, biplanes, sailplanes, hang gliders, and homebuilt planes and other experimental aircraft. 

He was an active member of the San Juan Pilots Association and the United Flying Octogenarians (UFOs), and flew with the Eagles, a group of local pilots in Friday Harbor who volunteer to fly cancer patients from San Juan Island to Bellingham and Skagit County for treatments.

John was preceded in death by his wife of 56 years, Gene Geyman, who died in Friday Harbor in 2012. 

He is survived by his second wife, Emily Reed Geyman, his sons Matt (Amy), Cal (Lisa), and Sabin, and his grandchildren Ben, Emily, Will and Laura.

A celebration of life will be held Saturday, June 27, 2026, at 2:00 pm, at the Friday Harbor Airport.