Earnings Per Common Share (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, shares in Millions, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2019	Mar. 31, 2018
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share, Amount	15.3	13.2
Numerator for earnings per share calculation [Abstract]
Net income	$ 1,427	$ 998
Participating Securities, Distributed and Undistributed Earnings (Loss), Diluted	(2)	(2)
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest	(6)	0
Income (Loss) from Continuing Operations, Net of Tax, Attributable to Parent	$ 1,419	$ 996
Denominator for earnings per share calculation [Abstract]
Weighted Average Shares Outstanding, Basic	1,298.0	1,016.0
Dilutive effect of outstanding stock-based compensation awards (in shares)	4.0	3.0
Weighted average shares used to compute diluted EPS (in shares)	1,302.0	1,019.0
Earnings Per Share, Basic and Diluted [Abstract]
Basic EPS (in dollars per share)	$ 1.09	$ 0.98
Diluted EPS (in dollars per share)	$ 1.09	$ 0.98
Retained Earnings [Member]
Numerator for earnings per share calculation [Abstract]
Net income attributable to CVS Health	$ 1,421	$ 998