diff --git a/cmd/podman/common/create_opts.go b/cmd/podman/common/create_opts.go
index 66778f5193..cca6399b72 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/common/create_opts.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/common/create_opts.go
@@ -517,7 +517,12 @@ func ContainerCreateToContainerCLIOpts(cc handlers.CreateContainerConfig, rtc *c
 		cliOpts.OOMKillDisable = *cc.HostConfig.OomKillDisable
 	}
 	if cc.Config.Healthcheck != nil {
-		cliOpts.HealthCmd = strings.Join(cc.Config.Healthcheck.Test, " ")
+		finCmd := ""
+		for _, str := range cc.Config.Healthcheck.Test {
+			finCmd = finCmd + str + " "
+		}
+		finCmd = finCmd[:len(finCmd)-1]
+		cliOpts.HealthCmd = finCmd
 		cliOpts.HealthInterval = cc.Config.Healthcheck.Interval.String()
 		cliOpts.HealthRetries = uint(cc.Config.Healthcheck.Retries)
 		cliOpts.HealthStartPeriod = cc.Config.Healthcheck.StartPeriod.String()
diff --git a/cmd/podman/common/specgen.go b/cmd/podman/common/specgen.go
index 2f45e559d0..c0cc7d17b3 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/common/specgen.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/common/specgen.go
@@ -655,26 +655,29 @@ func FillOutSpecGen(s *specgen.SpecGenerator, c *ContainerCLIOpts, args []string
 	return nil
 }
 
-func makeHealthCheckFromCli(inCmd, interval string, retries uint, timeout, startPeriod string) (*manifest.Schema2HealthConfig, error) {
+func makeHealthCheckFromCli(inCmd string, interval string, retries uint, timeout, startPeriod string) (*manifest.Schema2HealthConfig, error) {
+	var cmdArr []string
+	cmdSplitPrelim := strings.SplitN(inCmd, " ", 2)
+	if cmdSplitPrelim[0] == "CMD-SHELL" {
+		cmdArr = cmdSplitPrelim
+	} else if cmdSplitPrelim[0] != "CMD" && cmdSplitPrelim[0] != "none" { // if it isnt a cmd-shell or a cmd, it is a command
+		cmdArr = []string{"CMD-SHELL"}
+		cmdArr = append(cmdArr, inCmd)
+	} else {
+		cmdArr = strings.Fields(inCmd)
+	}
 	// Every healthcheck requires a command
-	if len(inCmd) == 0 {
+	if len(cmdArr) == 0 {
 		return nil, errors.New("Must define a healthcheck command for all healthchecks")
 	}
 
-	// first try to parse option value as JSON array of strings...
-	cmd := []string{}
-
-	if inCmd == "none" {
-		cmd = []string{"NONE"}
-	} else {
-		err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(inCmd), &cmd)
-		if err != nil {
-			// ...otherwise pass it to "/bin/sh -c" inside the container
-			cmd = []string{"CMD-SHELL", inCmd}
-		}
+	if cmdArr[0] == "none" { // if specified to remove healtcheck
+		cmdArr = []string{"NONE"}
 	}
+
+	// healthcheck is by default an array, so we simply pass the user input
 	hc := manifest.Schema2HealthConfig{
-		Test: cmd,
+		Test: cmdArr,
 	}
 
 	if interval == "disable" {
diff --git a/test/apiv2/python/rest_api/test_v2_0_0_container.py b/test/apiv2/python/rest_api/test_v2_0_0_container.py
index f252bd4019..30d902d8c2 100644
--- a/test/apiv2/python/rest_api/test_v2_0_0_container.py
+++ b/test/apiv2/python/rest_api/test_v2_0_0_container.py
@@ -33,9 +33,10 @@ def test_inspect(self):
         self.assertId(r.content)
         _ = parse(r.json()["Created"])
 
+
         r = requests.post(
             self.podman_url + "/v1.40/containers/create?name=topcontainer",
-            json={"Cmd": ["top"], "Image": "alpine:latest"},
+            json={"Healthcheck": {"Test": ["CMD-SHELL", "exit 0"], "Interval":1000, "Timeout":1000, "Retries": 5}, "Cmd": ["top"], "Image": "alpine:latest"},
         )
         self.assertEqual(r.status_code, 201, r.text)
         payload = r.json()
@@ -49,6 +50,13 @@ def test_inspect(self):
         state = out["State"]["Health"]
         self.assertIsInstance(state, dict)
 
+        r = requests.get(self.uri(f"/containers/{payload['Id']}/json"))
+        self.assertEqual(r.status_code, 200, r.text)
+        self.assertId(r.content)
+        out = r.json()
+        hc  = out["Config"]["Healthcheck"]["Test"]
+        self.assertListEqual(["CMD-SHELL", "exit 0"], hc)
+
     def test_stats(self):
         r = requests.get(self.uri(self.resolve_container("/containers/{}/stats?stream=false")))
         self.assertIn(r.status_code, (200, 409), r.text)
diff --git a/test/e2e/run_test.go b/test/e2e/run_test.go
index e71e7a248d..c9f7cb6a9b 100644
--- a/test/e2e/run_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/run_test.go
@@ -1205,21 +1205,21 @@ USER mail`, BB)
 	})
 
 	It("podman run with bad healthcheck retries", func() {
-		session := podmanTest.Podman([]string{"run", "-dt", "--health-cmd", "[\"foo\"]", "--health-retries", "0", ALPINE, "top"})
+		session := podmanTest.Podman([]string{"run", "-dt", "--health-cmd", "foo", "--health-retries", "0", ALPINE, "top"})
 		session.Wait()
 		Expect(session).To(ExitWithError())
 		Expect(session.ErrorToString()).To(ContainSubstring("healthcheck-retries must be greater than 0"))
 	})
 
 	It("podman run with bad healthcheck timeout", func() {
-		session := podmanTest.Podman([]string{"run", "-dt", "--health-cmd", "[\"foo\"]", "--health-timeout", "0s", ALPINE, "top"})
+		session := podmanTest.Podman([]string{"run", "-dt", "--health-cmd", "foo", "--health-timeout", "0s", ALPINE, "top"})
 		session.WaitWithDefaultTimeout()
 		Expect(session).To(ExitWithError())
 		Expect(session.ErrorToString()).To(ContainSubstring("healthcheck-timeout must be at least 1 second"))
 	})
 
 	It("podman run with bad healthcheck start-period", func() {
-		session := podmanTest.Podman([]string{"run", "-dt", "--health-cmd", "[\"foo\"]", "--health-start-period", "-1s", ALPINE, "top"})
+		session := podmanTest.Podman([]string{"run", "-dt", "--health-cmd", "foo", "--health-start-period", "-1s", ALPINE, "top"})
 		session.WaitWithDefaultTimeout()
 		Expect(session).To(ExitWithError())
 		Expect(session.ErrorToString()).To(ContainSubstring("healthcheck-start-period must be 0 seconds or greater"))