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Shareholders' Equity (Details) (USD $)
Share data in Millions, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Dec. 31, 2013
Dec. 31, 2012
Jun. 30, 2014
Jun. 30, 2013
Dec. 31, 2011
Shareholders' Equity Disclosure [Line Items]            
Cash Dividends Paid to Parent Company by Consolidated Subsidiaries $ 4,600,000,000us-gaap_CashDividendsPaidToParentCompanyByConsolidatedSubsidiaries $ 3,200,000,000us-gaap_CashDividendsPaidToParentCompanyByConsolidatedSubsidiaries        
Cash and cash equivalents 7,495,000,000us-gaap_CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue 7,276,000,000us-gaap_CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue 8,406,000,000us-gaap_CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue     9,429,000,000us-gaap_CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue
Statutory Accounting Practices, Statutory Capital and Surplus, Balance 14,700,000,000us-gaap_StatutoryAccountingPracticesStatutoryCapitalAndSurplusBalance          
Statutory Accounting Practices, Statutory Capital and Surplus Required 7,100,000,000us-gaap_StatutoryAccountingPracticesStatutoryCapitalAndSurplusRequired          
Stock Repurchase Program, Number of Shares Authorized to be Repurchased 100us-gaap_StockRepurchaseProgramNumberOfSharesAuthorizedToBeRepurchased          
Stock Repurchased and Retired During Period, Shares 49us-gaap_StockRepurchasedDuringPeriodShares          
Treasury Stock Acquired, Average Cost Per Share $ 82.57us-gaap_TreasuryStockAcquiredAverageCostPerShare          
Payments for Repurchase of Common Stock 4,008,000,000us-gaap_StockRepurchasedDuringPeriodValue 3,170,000,000us-gaap_StockRepurchasedDuringPeriodValue 3,084,000,000us-gaap_StockRepurchasedDuringPeriodValue      
Cash Dividend Annual Rate Per Share       $ 1.50unh_CashDividendAnnualRatePerShare $ 1.12unh_CashDividendAnnualRatePerShare  
Parent [Member]            
Shareholders' Equity Disclosure [Line Items]            
Cash and cash equivalents 738,000,000us-gaap_CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue
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Extraordinary Dividends [Member]            
Shareholders' Equity Disclosure [Line Items]            
Cash Dividends Paid to Parent Company by Consolidated Subsidiaries $ 1,500,000,000us-gaap_CashDividendsPaidToParentCompanyByConsolidatedSubsidiaries
/ unh_DividendFrequencyAxis
= unh_ExtraordinaryDividendsMember
$ 430,000,000us-gaap_CashDividendsPaidToParentCompanyByConsolidatedSubsidiaries
/ unh_DividendFrequencyAxis
= unh_ExtraordinaryDividendsMember