Reinsurance (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended							0 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 Life Mortality Risks	Dec. 31, 2011 Life Mortality Risks	Dec. 31, 2012 SLDI contract	Oct. 01, 1998 Subsidiary of Lincoln	Dec. 16, 1988 Aetna	Dec. 31, 2012 Aetna	Dec. 31, 2011 Aetna	Dec. 31, 2012 Unaffiliated Reinsurers contract
Effects of Reinsurance [Line Items]
Number of outstanding reinsurance agreements (contracts)						1					6
Payment for termination of reinsurance agreement							$ 1,000,000,000
Reinsurance assumed	0	100,000	0					25,000,000
Reserves									10,100,000	10,300,000
Reinsurance ceded				$ 15,100,000,000	$ 16,200,000,000