Fair Value of Financial Instruments (Fair Value Measured On A Recurring Basis Reconciliation) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions		3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
		Sep. 30, 2017	Sep. 30, 2016	Sep. 30, 2017		Sep. 30, 2016
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value		$ 2,324	$ 389	$ 1,545		$ 1,799
Items Included in Net Income		177	367	546		(1,134)
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1]	46	11	270		245
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net		(101)	29	45		256
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2]	(7)	21	33		(349)
Ending Fair Value		2,439	817	2,439		817
Corporate bonds [Member] | Fixed maturity AFS securities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[3]	2,517	2,425	2,405		1,993
Items Included in Net Income	[3]	4	(1)	15		(1)
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[3]	35	15	153		79
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[3]	(35)	(74)	(182)		72
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[3]	59	66	189		288
Ending Fair Value	[3]	2,580	2,431	2,580		2,431
ABS [Member] | Fixed maturity AFS securities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[3]	43	62	33		45
Items Included in Net Income	[3]
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[3]	(1)				(1)
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[3]					14
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[3]	(15)	(27)	(6)		(23)
Ending Fair Value	[3]	27	35	27		35
U.S. government bonds [Member] | Fixed maturity AFS securities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[3]	5	10
Items Included in Net Income	[3]
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[3]
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[3]		(2)			8
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[3]			5
Ending Fair Value	[3]	5	8	5		8
Foreign government bonds [Member] | Fixed maturity AFS securities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[3]	109	112	111		111
Items Included in Net Income	[3]
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[3]	1	1	(1)		2
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[3]
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[3]
Ending Fair Value	[3]	110	113	110		113
RMBS [Member] | Fixed maturity AFS securities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[3]	7	16	3		1
Items Included in Net Income	[3]
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[3]
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[3]	6	51	10		66
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[3]		(13)			(13)
Ending Fair Value	[3]	13	54	13		54
CMBS [Member] | Fixed maturity AFS securities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[3]	21	8	7		10
Items Included in Net Income	[3]					2
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[3]			1		(1)
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[3]	(1)	30	54		27
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[3]	(14)		(56)
Ending Fair Value	[3]	6	38	6		38
CLOs [Member] | Fixed maturity AFS securities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[3]	28	45	68		551
Items Included in Net Income	[3]
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[3]		(1)			1
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[3]	15	35	33		113
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[3]	(28)	(5)	(86)		(591)
Ending Fair Value	[3]	15	74	15		74
State and municipal bonds [Member] | Fixed maturity AFS securities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Items Included in Net Income	[3]			(1)
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[3]			1
Hybrid and redeemable preferred securities [Member] | Fixed maturity AFS securities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[3]	82	89	76		94
Items Included in Net Income	[3]
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[3]	3	(1)	14		(6)
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[3]
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[3]	(9)		(14)
Ending Fair Value	[3]	76	88	76		88
Equity AFS securities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[3]	183	170	177		164
Items Included in Net Income	[3]		3	1		3
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[3]	(1)	(6)	(2)		(4)
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[3]	9	(4)	15
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[3]	(1)		(1)
Ending Fair Value	[3]	190	163	190		163
Trading securities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[3]	59	65	65		73
Items Included in Net Income	[3]		1	2		3
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[3]		4	8		5
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[3]	(10)	6	(26)		5
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[3]	1		1		(10)
Ending Fair Value	[3]	50	76	50		76
Derivative investments [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[3]	155	423	(93)		555
Items Included in Net Income	[3]	(13)	(89)	(25)		(346)
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[3]	9	(1)	97		170
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[3]	(85)	(69)	87		(115)
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[3]
Ending Fair Value	[3]	66	264	66		264
Other investments [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[3],[4]		1
Items Included in Net Income	[3],[4]					1
Ending Fair Value	[3],[4]		1			1
GLB direct embedded derivatives [Member] | Other assets [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[5]	298
Items Included in Net Income	[5]	272		570
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[5]
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[5]
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[5]
Ending Fair Value	[5]	570		570
GLB direct embedded derivatives [Member] | Other liabilities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[5]		(2,458)	(371)		(953)
Items Included in Net Income	[5]		581	371		(924)
Ending Fair Value	[5]		(1,877)			(1,877)
GLB ceded embedded derivatives [Member] | Other assets [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[5]	85	539	203		268
Items Included in Net Income	[5]	(32)	(65)	(150)		206
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[5]
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[5]
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[5]
Ending Fair Value	[5]	53	474	53		474
GLB ceded embedded derivatives [Member] | Other liabilities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Items Included in Net Income	[5]	(7)		(7)
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[5]
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[5]
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[5]
Ending Fair Value	[5]	(7)		(7)
Indexed annuity and embedded derivatives [Member] | Other assets [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Items Included in Net Income
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1]
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net		3		3	[5]
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2]
Ending Fair Value	[5]	3		3
Indexed annuity and embedded derivatives [Member] | Future contract benefits [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[5]	(1,268)	(1,102)	(1,139)		(1,100)
Items Included in Net Income	[5]	(47)	(64)	(230)		(76)
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[5]
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[5]	(3)	41	51		51
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[5]
Ending Fair Value	[5]	$ (1,318)	(1,125)	$ (1,318)		(1,125)
VIEs' liabilities - derivative instruments [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[5]					(4)
Items Included in Net Income	[5]					4
Credit default swaps [Member] | Other liabilities [Member]
Level 3 Unobservable Input Reconciliation
Beginning Fair Value	[4]		(16)			(9)
Items Included in Net Income	[4]		1			(6)
Gains (Losses) in OCI and Other	[1],[4]
Issuances, Sales, Maturities, Settlements, Calls, Net	[4]		15			15
Transfers In or Out of Level 3, Net	[2],[4]
Ending Fair Value	[4]

[1] The changes in fair value of the interest rate swaps are offset by an adjustment to derivative investments (see Note 5).

[2] Transfers into or out of Level 3 for AFS and trading securities are displayed at amortized cost as of the beginning-of-period. For AFS and trading securities, the difference between beginning-of-period amortized cost and beginning-of-period fair value was included in OCI and earnings, respectively, in the prior period.

[3] Amortization and accretion of premiums and discounts are included in net investment income on our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss). Gains (losses) from sales, maturities, settlements and calls and OTTI are included in realized gain (loss) on our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss).

[4] The changes in fair value of the credit default swaps and contingency forwards are included in realized gain (loss) on our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss).

[5] Gains (losses) from sales, maturities, settlements and calls are included in realized gain (loss) on our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss).