diff --git a/backend/src/routes/health.js b/backend/src/routes/health.js
index ddff301..257ea8d 100644
--- a/backend/src/routes/health.js
+++ b/backend/src/routes/health.js
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@ router.get('/', async (req, res) => {
     };
   }
 
-  const statusCode = health.status === 'ok' ? 200 : 503;
+  // Only return 503 if the server itself is broken — degraded means optional services are down
+  const statusCode = health.status === 'error' ? 503 : 200;
   res.status(statusCode).json(health);
 });
 
diff --git a/k8s/app.yaml b/k8s/app.yaml
index 8bebd1a..8129d56 100644
--- a/k8s/app.yaml
+++ b/k8s/app.yaml
@@ -26,14 +26,16 @@ spec:
           httpGet:
             path: /health
             port: 3010
-          initialDelaySeconds: 15
+          initialDelaySeconds: 30
           periodSeconds: 20
+          failureThreshold: 5
         readinessProbe:
           httpGet:
             path: /health
             port: 3010
-          initialDelaySeconds: 5
+          initialDelaySeconds: 15
           periodSeconds: 10
+          failureThreshold: 6
 ---
 apiVersion: v1
 kind: Service