Earnings Per Share (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, shares in Millions, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2018	Mar. 31, 2017
Reconciliation of basic and diluted earnings per common share
Antidilutive securities excluded from computation of earnings per share (in shares)	13.2	7.8
Numerator for earnings per share calculation:
Income from continuing operations	$ 998	$ 962
Income allocated to participating securities	(2)	(4)
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest		(1)
Income from continuing operations attributable to CVS Health	$ 996	$ 957
Denominator for earnings per share calculation:
Weighted average shares, basic (in shares)	1,016.0	1,030.0
Effect of dilutive securities (in shares)	3.0	5.0
Weighted average shares, diluted (in shares)	1,019.0	1,035.0
Earnings per share from continuing operations:
Earnings per share, basic (in dollars per share)	$ 0.98	$ 0.93
Earnings per share, diluted (in dollars per share)	$ 0.98	$ 0.92

Securities (including those issuable pursuant to contingent stock agreements) that could potentially dilute basic earnings per share (EPS) or earnings per unit (EPU) in the future that were not included in the computation of diluted EPS or EPU because to do so would increase EPS or EPU amounts or decrease loss per share or unit amounts for the period presented.

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