diff --git a/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck.go b/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck.go
index f4d75d2bb07..5734749b167 100644
--- a/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck.go
+++ b/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck.go
@@ -69,7 +69,8 @@ var (
 	hcPrimaryPromotedCounters = stats.NewCountersWithMultiLabels("HealthcheckPrimaryPromoted", "Primary promoted in keyspace/shard name because of health check errors", []string{"Keyspace", "ShardName"})
 	healthcheckOnce           sync.Once
 
-	hcMessagesDropped = stats.NewCounter("HealthCheckMessagesDropped", "Number of messages dropped by the healthcheck because the subscriber buffer was full")
+	// counter that tells us how many healthcheck messages have been dropped
+	hcChannelFullCounter = stats.NewCounter("HealthCheckChannelFullErrors", "Number of times the healthcheck broadcast channel was full")
 
 	// TabletURLTemplateString is a flag to generate URLs for the tablets that vtgate discovers.
 	TabletURLTemplateString = "http://{{.GetTabletHostPort}}"
@@ -653,8 +654,9 @@ func (hc *HealthCheckImpl) broadcast(th *TabletHealth) {
 		select {
 		case c <- th:
 		default:
-			log.Errorf("HealthCheckImpl.broadcast: subscriber buffer full, dropping message")
-			hcMessagesDropped.Add(1)
+			// If the channel is full, we drop the message.
+			hcChannelFullCounter.Add(1)
+			log.Warningf("HealthCheck broadcast channel is full, dropping message for %s", topotools.TabletIdent(th.Tablet))
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck_test.go b/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck_test.go
index 83df1718884..b78450d4843 100644
--- a/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck_test.go
+++ b/go/vt/discovery/healthcheck_test.go
@@ -1515,61 +1515,6 @@ func TestConcurrentUpdates(t *testing.T) {
 	}, 5*time.Second, 100*time.Millisecond, "expected all updates to be processed")
 }
 
-// BenchmarkAccess_FastConsumer benchmarks the access time of the healthcheck for a fast consumer.
-func BenchmarkAccess_FastConsumer(b *testing.B) {
-	ctx := context.Background()
-	// reset error counters
-	hcErrorCounters.ResetAll()
-	ts := memorytopo.NewServer(ctx, "cell")
-	defer ts.Close()
-	hc := createTestHc(ctx, ts)
-	// close healthcheck
-	defer hc.Close()
-
-	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
-		// Subscribe to the healthcheck with a fast consumer.
-		ch := hc.Subscribe()
-		go func() {
-			for range ch {
-			}
-		}()
-
-		for id := 0; id < 1000; id++ {
-			hc.broadcast(&TabletHealth{})
-		}
-		hc.Unsubscribe(ch)
-		waitForEmptyMessageQueue(ch)
-	}
-}
-
-// BenchmarkAccess_SlowConsumer benchmarks the access time of the healthcheck for a slow consumer.
-func BenchmarkAccess_SlowConsumer(b *testing.B) {
-	ctx := context.Background()
-	// reset error counters
-	hcErrorCounters.ResetAll()
-	ts := memorytopo.NewServer(ctx, "cell")
-	defer ts.Close()
-	hc := createTestHc(ctx, ts)
-	// close healthcheck
-	defer hc.Close()
-
-	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
-		// Subscribe to the healthcheck with a slow consumer.
-		ch := hc.Subscribe()
-		go func() {
-			for range ch {
-				time.Sleep(50 * time.Millisecond)
-			}
-		}()
-
-		for id := 0; id < 100; id++ {
-			hc.broadcast(&TabletHealth{})
-		}
-		hc.Unsubscribe(ch)
-		waitForEmptyMessageQueue(ch)
-	}
-}
-
 func waitForEmptyMessageQueue(queue chan *TabletHealth) {
 	for {
 		if len(queue) == 0 {