Fair Value of Assets and Liabilities (Details 3) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	$ 720	$ 1,059	$ 1,604
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	19	18	20
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	17	(26)	8
Transfers into Level 3	49	31	105
Transfers out of Level 3	(304)	(248)	(150)
Sold in LBL disposition			(347)
Purchases/Issues	153	89	82
Sales	(49)	(96)	(135)
Issues	0	0
Settlements	(91)	(107)	(128)
Balance at end of period	514	720	1,059
Fair Value, Liabilities Measured on Recurring Basis, Unobservable Input Reconciliation, Calculation [Roll Forward]
Balance at beginning of period	(299)	(323)	(553)
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	6	19	9
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	0	0	0
Transfers into Level 3	0	0	0
Transfers out of Level 3	0	0	0
Sold in LBL disposition			230
Purchases	0	0
Sales	0	0	0
Purchases/Issues	(3)	(2)	(18)
Settlements	7	7	9
Balance at end of period	(289)	(299)	(323)
Other liabilities: Free-standing derivatives	3	8	9
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	25	37	29
Other investments: Free-standing derivatives	1	1	2
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	8	6	11
Net investment income
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	11	12	12
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	(3)	26	(5)
Contract benefits
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	9	(7)	15
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)
Fixed income securities
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	666	1,028	1,241
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	28	18	20
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	12	(23)	7
Transfers into Level 3	49	31	101
Transfers out of Level 3	(300)	(248)	(147)
Sold in LBL disposition			4
Purchases/Issues	121	57	41
Sales	(47)	(91)	(121)
Issues	0	0
Settlements	(90)	(106)	(118)
Balance at end of period	439	666	1,028
Municipal
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	78	106	119
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	12	5	0
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	(8)	(5)	18
Transfers into Level 3	6	0	0
Transfers out of Level 3	0	0	(17)
Sold in LBL disposition			0
Purchases/Issues	0	0	0
Sales	(27)	(23)	(11)
Issues	0	0
Settlements	(2)	(5)	(3)
Balance at end of period	59	78	106
Corporate
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period		792	1,008
Total gains (losses) included in: net income			20
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI			(14)
Transfers into Level 3			85
Transfers out of Level 3			(114)
Sold in LBL disposition			0
Purchases/Issues			20
Sales			(109)
Settlements			(104)
Balance at end of period			792
Asset-backed securities
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period		129	112
Total gains (losses) included in: net income			0
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI			3
Transfers into Level 3			16
Transfers out of Level 3			(12)
Sold in LBL disposition			0
Purchases/Issues			21
Sales			0
Settlements			(11)
Balance at end of period			129
Corporate - public
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	44	160
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	0	0
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	0	(2)
Transfers into Level 3	16	0
Transfers out of Level 3	(15)	(111)
Purchases/Issues	6	1
Sales	(3)	0
Issues	0	0
Settlements	(1)	(4)
Balance at end of period	47	44	160
Corporate - privately placed
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	447	632
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	15	14
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	18	(17)
Transfers into Level 3	16	10
Transfers out of Level 3	(277)	(79)
Purchases/Issues	108	29
Sales	(15)	(67)
Issues	0	0
Settlements	(48)	(75)
Balance at end of period	264	447	632
ABS - CDO
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	53	67
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	1	0
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	5	2
Transfers into Level 3	8	21
Transfers out of Level 3	(1)	(17)
Purchases/Issues	0	0
Sales	(2)	(1)
Issues	0	0
Settlements	(37)	(19)
Balance at end of period	27	53	67
ABS - consumer and other
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	44	62
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	0	(1)
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	(3)	0
Transfers into Level 3	3	0
Transfers out of Level 3	(7)	(41)
Purchases/Issues	7	27
Sales	0	0
Issues	0	0
Settlements	(2)	(3)
Balance at end of period	42	44	62
CMBS
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		(1)	0
Transfers into Level 3		0	0
Transfers out of Level 3		0	(4)
Sold in LBL disposition			4
Purchases/Issues		0	0
Sales		0	0
Issues		0
Settlements		0	0
Balance at end of period		0	1
Redeemable preferred stock
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period		0	1
Total gains (losses) included in: net income			0
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI			0
Transfers into Level 3			0
Transfers out of Level 3			0
Sold in LBL disposition			0
Purchases/Issues			0
Sales			(1)
Settlements			0
Balance at end of period			0
Equity securities
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	60	37	6
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	(15)	(1)	0
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	5	(3)	(1)
Transfers into Level 3	0	0	0
Transfers out of Level 3	(4)	0	(1)
Sold in LBL disposition			0
Purchases/Issues	32	32	39
Sales	(2)	(5)	(6)
Issues	0	0
Settlements	0	0	0
Balance at end of period	76	60	37
Free-standing derivatives, net
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	(7)	(7)	(5)
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	6	1	0
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	0	0	0
Transfers into Level 3	0	0	0
Transfers out of Level 3	0	0	0
Sold in LBL disposition			0
Purchases/Issues	0	0	2
Sales	0	0	0
Issues	0	0
Settlements	(1)	(1)	(4)
Balance at end of period	(2)	(7)	(7)
Other assets
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period	1	1	0
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	0	0	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
Sold in LBL disposition			0
Purchases/Issues	0	0	0
Sales	0	0	0
Issues	0	0
Settlements	0	0	0
Balance at end of period	1	1	1
Assets held for sale
Rollforward of Level 3 assets held at fair value on a recurring basis
Balance at beginning of period		0	362
Total gains (losses) included in: net income			(1)
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI			2
Transfers into Level 3			4
Transfers out of Level 3			(2)
Sold in LBL disposition			(351)
Purchases/Issues			0
Sales			(8)
Settlements			(6)
Balance at end of period			0
Contractholder funds: Derivatives embedded in life and annuity contracts
Fair Value, Liabilities Measured on Recurring Basis, Unobservable Input Reconciliation, Calculation [Roll Forward]
Balance at beginning of period	(299)	(323)	(307)
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	6	19	(8)
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI	0	0	0
Transfers into Level 3	0	0	0
Transfers out of Level 3	0	0	0
Sold in LBL disposition			0
Purchases	0	0
Sales	0	0	0
Purchases/Issues	(3)	(2)	(14)
Settlements	7	7	6
Balance at end of period	(289)	(299)	(323)
Liabilities held for sale
Fair Value, Liabilities Measured on Recurring Basis, Unobservable Input Reconciliation, Calculation [Roll Forward]
Balance at beginning of period		0	(246)
Total gains (losses) included in: net income	$ 0	$ 0	17
Total gains (losses) included in: OCI			0
Transfers into Level 3			0
Transfers out of Level 3			0
Sold in LBL disposition			230
Sales			0
Purchases/Issues			(4)
Settlements			3
Balance at end of period			0
Lincoln Benefit Life Company | Asset-backed securities
Fair Value, Liabilities Measured on Recurring Basis, Unobservable Input Reconciliation, Calculation [Roll Forward]
Asset transfers to held for sale			(4)
Lincoln Benefit Life Company | CMBS
Fair Value, Liabilities Measured on Recurring Basis, Unobservable Input Reconciliation, Calculation [Roll Forward]
Asset transfers to held for sale			$ 4