This chapter explores the concept of health as the absence of disease. It distinguishes between the pathologist’s focus on functional normality and the clinician’s emphasis on clinical relevance. Defining health as the absence of clinical disease separates individual issues from those needing social action. It also shields medicine from political and ideological influence. The chapter questions the superiority of holistic or patient-centered definitions. Instead, it highlights the practical benefits of a minimalist approach. Stable and objective criteria help advance universalist goals in healthcare. They also aid in identifying and addressing health inequalities. The chapter concludes that this concept’s greatest strength is its ability to protect health as a shared and universal good.