Reinsurance (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended			45 Months Ended	106 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended						21 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 item	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Mar. 31, 2011	Jun. 30, 2007	Aug. 31, 1998 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Prudential	Dec. 31, 2011 Prudential	Dec. 31, 2010 Prudential	Dec. 31, 2012 Citigroup Subsidiaries and Scottish Re	Dec. 31, 2011 Citigroup Subsidiaries and Scottish Re	Dec. 31, 2012 Single life	Dec. 31, 2012 Joint life
Reinsurance recoverable
Percent of morbidity risk ceded for long-term care contracts	100.00%
Percent of morbidity risk ceded for term-life insurance policies							90.00%
Number of unaffiliated reinsurers	14
Retention level for most contracts				$ 5,000,000	$ 2,000,000	$ 1,000,000							$ 5,000,000	$ 8,000,000
Retention level for contracts issued to individuals age 70 and over				3,000,000									3,000,000
Retention level for certain large contracts meeting specific criteria				10,000,000	5,000,000								10,000,000	10,000,000
Total amounts recoverable from reinsurers, industry pools or facilities	4,570,000,000	4,457,000,000						1,690,000,000	1,680,000,000		160,000,000	165,000,000
Life and annuity premiums and contract charges, reinsurance ceded								128,000,000	152,000,000	171,000,000
Life and annuity contract benefits, reinsurance ceded								91,000,000	121,000,000	152,000,000
Interest credited to contractholder funds, reinsurance ceded	28,000,000	27,000,000	32,000,000					23,000,000	20,000,000	29,000,000
Operating costs and expenses, reinsurance ceded								25,000,000	27,000,000	31,000,000
Gross life insurance in force	533,650,000,000
Life insurance in force ceded to unaffiliated reinsurers	$ 208,970,000,000