Fair Value of Assets and Liabilities (Details 3) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014	Dec. 31, 2013
Fair Value Assets Measured on Recurring Basis Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Sold in LBL disposition		$ 230	$ 0
Purchases	$ 0
Fair Value Measurement with Unobservable Inputs Reconciliation Recurring Basis Sale of Assets of Disposal Group Including Discontinued Operations		(347)	0
Gains (losses) for Level 3 assets still held at the balance sheet date, included in earnings	12	17	12
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	1,059	1,604	2,041
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	18	20	33
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	(26)	8	14
Transfers into Level 3	31	105	114
Transfers out of Level 3	(248)	(150)	(201)
Purchases/Issues	89	82	154
Issues	0
Sales	(96)	(135)	(382)
Settlements	(107)	(128)	(169)
Balance at end of period	720	1,059	1,604
Fair value assets and liabilities measured on recurring basis, gain (loss) included in earnings
Total realized and unrealized gains (losses) included in net income, recurring Level 3 assets and liabilities	37	29	142
Other investments: Free-standing derivatives	1	2	9
Assets transferred between Level 1 and Level 2	0	0	0
Liabilities transferred between Level 1 and Level 2	0	0	0
Realized capital gains and losses
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	6	11	20
Net investment income
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	12	12	14
Interest credited to contractholder funds
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	26	5	40
Contract benefits
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	7	15	74
Loss on disposition of operations
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Total gains (losses) included in: net income		4	6
Fixed income securities
Fair Value Assets Measured on Recurring Basis Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Fair Value Measurement with Unobservable Inputs Reconciliation Recurring Basis Sale of Assets of Disposal Group Including Discontinued Operations		4	(385)
Gains (losses) for Level 3 assets still held at the balance sheet date, included in earnings	12	11	5
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	1,028	1,241	2,060
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	18	20	17
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	(23)	7	20
Transfers into Level 3	31	101	101
Transfers out of Level 3	(248)	(147)	(188)
Purchases/Issues	57	41	145
Issues	0
Sales	(91)	(121)	(371)
Settlements	(106)	(118)	(158)
Balance at end of period	666	1,028	1,241
Municipal
Fair Value Assets Measured on Recurring Basis Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Fair Value Measurement with Unobservable Inputs Reconciliation Recurring Basis Sale of Assets of Disposal Group Including Discontinued Operations		0	(51)
Gains (losses) for Level 3 assets still held at the balance sheet date, included in earnings	0	(1)	(4)
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	106	119	338
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	5	0	(12)
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	(5)	18	19
Transfers into Level 3	0	0	0
Transfers out of Level 3	0	(17)	0
Purchases/Issues	0	0	0
Issues	0
Sales	(23)	(11)	(173)
Settlements	(5)	(3)	(2)
Balance at end of period	78	106	119
Corporate
Fair Value Assets Measured on Recurring Basis Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Fair Value Measurement with Unobservable Inputs Reconciliation Recurring Basis Sale of Assets of Disposal Group Including Discontinued Operations		0	(244)
Gains (losses) for Level 3 assets still held at the balance sheet date, included in earnings	11	11	13
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	792	1,008	1,501
Total gains (losses) included in: net income		20	32
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI		(14)	(32)
Transfers into Level 3		85	84
Transfers out of Level 3		(114)	(172)
Purchases/Issues		20	145
Sales		(109)	(173)
Settlements		(104)	(133)
Balance at end of period		792	1,008
Asset-backed securities
Fair Value Assets Measured on Recurring Basis Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Fair Value Measurement with Unobservable Inputs Reconciliation Recurring Basis Sale of Assets of Disposal Group Including Discontinued Operations		0	(85)
Gains (losses) for Level 3 assets still held at the balance sheet date, included in earnings	1	0	(2)
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	129	112	199
Total gains (losses) included in: net income		0	(2)
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI		3	30
Transfers into Level 3		16	17
Transfers out of Level 3		(12)	(16)
Purchases/Issues		21	0
Sales		0	(8)
Settlements		(11)	(23)
Balance at end of period		129	112
Corporate - public
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	160
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	0
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	(2)
Transfers into Level 3	0
Transfers out of Level 3	(111)
Purchases/Issues	1
Issues	0
Sales	0
Settlements	(4)
Balance at end of period	44	160
Corporate - privately placed
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	632
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	14
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	(17)
Transfers into Level 3	10
Transfers out of Level 3	(79)
Purchases/Issues	29
Issues	0
Sales	(67)
Settlements	(75)
Balance at end of period	447	632
ABS - CDO
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	67
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	0
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	2
Transfers into Level 3	21
Transfers out of Level 3	(17)
Purchases/Issues	0
Issues	0
Sales	(1)
Settlements	(19)
Balance at end of period	53	67
ABS - consumer and other
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	62
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	(1)
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	0
Transfers into Level 3	0
Transfers out of Level 3	(41)
Purchases/Issues	27
Issues	0
Sales	0
Settlements	(3)
Balance at end of period	44	62
CMBS
Fair Value Assets Measured on Recurring Basis Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Fair Value Measurement with Unobservable Inputs Reconciliation Recurring Basis Sale of Assets of Disposal Group Including Discontinued Operations		4	(5)
Gains (losses) for Level 3 assets still held at the balance sheet date, included in earnings	0	1	(2)
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	1	1	21
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	0	0	(1)
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	(1)	0	3
Transfers into Level 3	0	0	0
Transfers out of Level 3	0	(4)	0
Purchases/Issues	0	0	0
Issues	0
Sales	0	0	(17)
Settlements	0	0	0
Balance at end of period	0	1	1
Redeemable preferred stock
Fair Value Assets Measured on Recurring Basis Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Fair Value Measurement with Unobservable Inputs Reconciliation Recurring Basis Sale of Assets of Disposal Group Including Discontinued Operations		0	0
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	0	1	1
Total gains (losses) included in: net income		0	0
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI		0	0
Transfers into Level 3		0	0
Transfers out of Level 3		0	0
Purchases/Issues		0	0
Sales		(1)	0
Settlements		0	0
Balance at end of period		0	1
Equity securities
Fair Value Assets Measured on Recurring Basis Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Fair Value Measurement with Unobservable Inputs Reconciliation Recurring Basis Sale of Assets of Disposal Group Including Discontinued Operations		0	0
Gains (losses) for Level 3 assets still held at the balance sheet date, included in earnings	(1)	0	0
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	37	6	7
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	(1)	0	0
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	(3)	(1)	0
Transfers into Level 3	0	0	0
Transfers out of Level 3	0	(1)	0
Purchases/Issues	32	39	0
Issues	0
Sales	(5)	(6)	(1)
Settlements	0	0	0
Balance at end of period	60	37	6
Free-standing derivatives, net
Fair Value Assets Measured on Recurring Basis Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Fair Value Measurement with Unobservable Inputs Reconciliation Recurring Basis Sale of Assets of Disposal Group Including Discontinued Operations		0	0
Gains (losses) for Level 3 assets still held at the balance sheet date, included in earnings	1	5	10
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	(7)	(5)	(27)
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	1	0	19
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	0	0	0
Transfers into Level 3	0	0	0
Transfers out of Level 3	0	0	0
Purchases/Issues	0	2	9
Issues	0
Sales	0	0	0
Settlements	(1)	(4)	(6)
Balance at end of period	(7)	(7)	(5)
Other assets
Fair Value Assets Measured on Recurring Basis Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Fair Value Measurement with Unobservable Inputs Reconciliation Recurring Basis Sale of Assets of Disposal Group Including Discontinued Operations		0	0
Gains (losses) for Level 3 assets still held at the balance sheet date, included in earnings	0	1	(1)
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	1	0	1
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	0	1	(1)
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	0	0	0
Transfers into Level 3	0	0	0
Transfers out of Level 3	0	0	0
Purchases/Issues	0	0	0
Issues	0
Sales	0	0	0
Settlements	0	0	0
Balance at end of period	1	1	0
Assets held for sale
Fair Value Assets Measured on Recurring Basis Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Fair Value Measurement with Unobservable Inputs Reconciliation Recurring Basis Sale of Assets of Disposal Group Including Discontinued Operations		(351)	385
Gains (losses) for Level 3 assets still held at the balance sheet date, included in earnings	0	0	(2)
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	0	362	0
Total gains (losses) included in: net income		(1)	(2)
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI		2	(6)
Transfers into Level 3		4	13
Transfers out of Level 3		(2)	(13)
Purchases/Issues		0	0
Sales		(8)	(10)
Settlements		(6)	(5)
Balance at end of period		0	362
Contractholder funds: Derivatives embedded in life and annuity contracts
Fair Value Assets Measured on Recurring Basis Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Sold in LBL disposition		0	265
Purchases	$ 0
Liabilities held for sale
Fair Value Assets Measured on Recurring Basis Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Sold in LBL disposition		230	$ (265)
Lincoln Benefit Life Company | Asset-backed securities
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Transfer to held for sale		4
Lincoln Benefit Life Company | CMBS
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Transfer to held for sale		$ 4