I've talked about balance a few times, and I think it is worth providing an example of what I am talking about.
Let's compare Dwarf and Elf.
Elf may purchase Resist Charm and gets bows for half price. Elves wear elf ears (effectively no meaningful costuming).
Dwarves may purchase Resist Poison and get a discount on blacksmith. Elves wear beards (more significant than ears, but still light)
The two resists are roughly equivalent (poison is arguably better). The half price bow is a much better benefit than blacksmith discount for most characters (in that it will save more build in general and bow use benefits almost every class, where blacksmithing is pretty niche). Overall, I'd say the benefits roughly even out.
All that is left is costuming, where dwarves have the more inconvenient costuming by a good margin. The sturdy / frail distinction covers that.
In this case I think either dwarves get a little too much or elves get a bit too little (probably an artifact of trying to balance against stone elves, dark elves, and MWEs), but it is close and I think the health distinction helps maintain balance.
It is worth noting that with the exception of the barbarian (which I will reserve judgement on until full details come about the new rules for oathsworn), the other two races have the most awful makeup / costuming requirements in our game (full body paint + tusks) and don't have otherwise remarkably great racial features to make up for it (not like dark elves that get Resist Magic to help make up for the awfulness of full black body paint).
-MS