diff --git a/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/gce/gce_healthchecks.go b/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/gce/gce_healthchecks.go
index fb286cb8a93..9fd2989b2a6 100644
--- a/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/gce/gce_healthchecks.go
+++ b/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/gce/gce_healthchecks.go
@@ -37,8 +37,8 @@ var (
 )
 
 func init() {
-	if v, err := utilversion.ParseGeneric("1.7.0"); err != nil {
-		panic(err)
+	if v, err := utilversion.ParseGeneric("1.7.2"); err != nil {
+		glog.Fatalf("Failed to parse version for minNodesHealthCheckVersion: %v", err)
 	} else {
 		minNodesHealthCheckVersion = v
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/gce/gce_healthchecks_test.go b/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/gce/gce_healthchecks_test.go
index d5b9ada2c3c..cd7b36a4f7a 100644
--- a/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/gce/gce_healthchecks_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/gce/gce_healthchecks_test.go
@@ -27,8 +27,9 @@ func TestIsAtLeastMinNodesHealthCheckVersion(t *testing.T) {
 		version string
 		expect  bool
 	}{
-		{"v1.7.1", true},
-		{"v1.7.0-alpha.2.597+276d289b90d322", true},
+		{"v1.7.3", true},
+		{"v1.7.2", true},
+		{"v1.7.2-alpha.2.597+276d289b90d322", true},
 		{"v1.6.0-beta.3.472+831q821c907t31a", false},
 		{"v1.5.2", false},
 	}
@@ -52,14 +53,14 @@ func TestSupportsNodesHealthCheck(t *testing.T) {
 				{
 					Status: v1.NodeStatus{
 						NodeInfo: v1.NodeSystemInfo{
-							KubeProxyVersion: "v1.7.1",
+							KubeProxyVersion: "v1.7.2",
 						},
 					},
 				},
 				{
 					Status: v1.NodeStatus{
 						NodeInfo: v1.NodeSystemInfo{
-							KubeProxyVersion: "v1.7.0-alpha.2.597+276d289b90d322",
+							KubeProxyVersion: "v1.7.2-alpha.2.597+276d289b90d322",
 						},
 					},
 				},
@@ -92,14 +93,14 @@ func TestSupportsNodesHealthCheck(t *testing.T) {
 				{
 					Status: v1.NodeStatus{
 						NodeInfo: v1.NodeSystemInfo{
-							KubeProxyVersion: "v1.7.1",
+							KubeProxyVersion: "v1.7.3",
 						},
 					},
 				},
 				{
 					Status: v1.NodeStatus{
 						NodeInfo: v1.NodeSystemInfo{
-							KubeProxyVersion: "v1.7.0-alpha.2.597+276d289b90d322",
+							KubeProxyVersion: "v1.7.2-alpha.2.597+276d289b90d322",
 						},
 					},
 				},