Reinsurance - Narrative (Details)	1 Months Ended
Jan. 31, 2019 agreement
Reinsurance Disclosures [Abstract]
Number of reinsurance contracts entered into	2
Four years reinsurance agreement with unrelated insurer	4 years

This line item represents the four years of a reinsurance agreement with an unrelated insurer.

No definition available.

Name:	cvs_FourYearsReinsuranceAgreementWithUnrelatedInsurer
Namespace Prefix:	cvs_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration