Bearing similarities to Altman's 1975 film Nashville,[6] along with a plotless structure,[1][7]: 128  HealtH chronicles the progress of a health-food convention held at a luxury hotel in St Pete Beach, Florida.

[8]: 113 ) The candidates are Esther Brill, an 83-year-old afflicted with narcolepsy who calls herself "the first lady of health"; Isabella Garnell, who is serious against commercialism and materialism; and Dr. Harold (Gil) Gainey, a salesperson-turned-independent.

[1][4]: 82 [8]: 113 On the first day of the conference, The Steinettes (a female quartet dressed in green and yellow) introduce Dick Cavett, who is hosting his show on location and covering the details of the event.

Later that day at the hotel lounge, Burbank's ex-husband[8]: 113  Harry Wolff plans to reschedule the Cavett interview, due to difficulties with Brill during her profile.

Some other men dive in to rescue the drowned body, but it turns out that Gainey had been using an oxygen tank in order to play a publicity stunt.

Around that time, a businessperson named Colonel Cody arrives at the conference, and heads to Garnell's room to interrogate and find out her plans.

Ashamed and in tears, Burbank is shocked that he controls not only HealtH, but also the ongoing election; he even plans to rig the votes and the outcome.

On the fourth and final day, the results of the HealtH election are announced live on Cavett's show, and Esther Brill comes out as the victor.

[4]: 82 Under the supervision of Alan Ladd, Jr., head of 20th Century-Fox,[7]: 128  director Robert Altman made HealtH for US$6 million[2]: 84  through his Lion's Gate Films company (unrelated to the present-day firm based in Vancouver).

"[6] This and 1979's Quintet were Altman's first collaborations with writer Frank Barhydt;[11]: 608, 612  the two would later work on the 1988 HBO miniseries Tanner '88,[7]: xxxiii  as well as 1993's Short Cuts[7]: xxx  and 1996's Kansas City.

[7]: xxxi In response to the diminishing box office returns of his last three efforts (A Wedding, Quintet and A Perfect Couple), and in case any delays could put a damper on his financing, Altman rushed HealtH into production.

[11]: 474 To capture the authenticity of the convention in the movie, art director Bob Quinn and co-writer Frank Barhydt visited an actual one in Boston, Massachusetts before shooting.

[21] But by the time editing was complete,[20]: 17  a change of management took place at the studio,[1][11]: 474  and Alan Ladd, Jr. was among those to leave;[4]: 84  as a result, Fox shelved the film.

After canceling plans for a March debut in January 1980,[22] they moved it to their summer schedule;[20]: 17  Altman's strategy was to have the film released in time for that year's presidential campaign.

[2] Altman went against it[2] and suggested test runs in four markets instead: San Francisco and Sacramento, California; Houston, Texas; and Boston, Massachusetts.

"[2]: 84 By September 1980, the festival exposure prompted 20th Century-Fox to hold over a month[2] of preview screenings at the UA Theater[25] in Westwood, Los Angeles;[2][8]: 115  a nationwide release was also considered.

[1] The film was released in at least two European markets: in Germany under the title Der Gesundheitskongress,[29] and in the United Kingdom, where prints ran a few minutes longer than the original U.S.

He concluded, "If indeed Altman weren't so original and so talented, an indulgent mess like HealtH would merely be another unsuccessful film in a bad year.

"[28] Leonard Maltin gave HealtH two stars out of four in his Movie Guide, and added: "Non-Altman fans may love this more than devotees; Woodard steals the film—no easy feat considering that incredible cast—as [the] hotel's ultra-patient manager.

"[3] Halliwell's Film Guide referred to it as a "zany satirical all-star romp on the lines of A Wedding but by no means as likeable or laughable, considering its cast, as it should be".

[35] In a 1985 book on Altman, Gerard Plecki called HealtH "a humorous companion piece to Nashville", adding that it "was certainly a major improvement over his two previous films".

[10]: 382  O'Brien called this the film's "strongest asset [...], complete with hucksters and suckers (a handy metaphor for most aspects of American society".

[4]: 84 In Kolker's words, HealtH is "a hilarious documentation of politics and culture at the end of the Carter era when passivity began to disguise itself as self-satisfaction and marginal interests requested majority attention".

[10]: 382  The convention in the film "becomes a small mirror of larger political follies, of silly, self-serving people so convinced of their importance that they take for granted the fact that major significance attends their ridiculous activities".

"All this comes across as a little forced," he continued, "recalling the random weirdness of Brewster McCloud rather than the carefully etched idiosyncrasies of The Long Goodbye or Three Women.