What kind of health checks? In my case, the kubelet process was staying alive and responsive to queries, I believe due to:

  # cat /proc/$(pgrep kubelet)/oom_score_adj
  -999
  
  (from OOMScoreAdjust=-999 in /etc/systemd/system/kubelet.service)  

At the metrics level, you can compare old vs new release. Have been bitten before by resource requirements dramatically change (regardless of whether it's a bug or functionality change)