Reinsurance (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended			45 Months Ended	106 Months Ended	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended						33 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013 item	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Mar. 31, 2011	Jun. 30, 2007	Aug. 31, 1998 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2013 Prudential	Dec. 31, 2012 Prudential	Dec. 31, 2011 Prudential	Dec. 31, 2013 Citigroup Subsidiaries and Scottish Re	Dec. 31, 2012 Citigroup Subsidiaries and Scottish Re	Dec. 31, 2013 Single life	Dec. 31, 2013 Joint life
Reinsurance recoverable
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	2,754,000,000	4,570,000,000						1,510,000,000	1,690,000,000		156,000,000	160,000,000
Life and annuity premiums and contract charges, reinsurance ceded								120,000,000	128,000,000	152,000,000
Life and annuity contract benefits, reinsurance ceded								139,000,000	91,000,000	121,000,000
Interest credited to contractholder funds, reinsurance ceded	27,000,000	28,000,000	27,000,000					22,000,000	23,000,000	20,000,000
Operating costs and expenses, reinsurance ceded								23,000,000	25,000,000	27,000,000
Gross life insurance in force	540,160,000,000
Life insurance in force ceded to unaffiliated reinsurers	$ 195,414,000,000	$ 208,967,000,000	$ 221,372,000,000