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Quarterly Financial Information Level 3 (Tables) | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2012
Quarterly Financial Information Disclosure [Abstract] |
Comparability of Net Income, Impact of Fair Value Accounting to Fixed Index Annuity Business [Table Text Block] | The differences between the change in fair value of derivatives for each quarter primarily correspond to the performance of the indices upon which our call options are based. The comparability of net income (loss) is impacted by the application of fair value accounting to our fixed index annuity business as follows:
| Quarter ended
| March 31, |  | June 30, |  | September 30, |  | December 31,
| (Dollars in thousands)
2012 | $ | 16,279 |  |  | $ | 5,058 |  |  | $ | 18,106 |  |  | $ | (8,270 | )
2011 | (2,945 | ) |  | 9,747 |  |  | 45,868 |  |  | (21,313 | )
Schedule of Quarterly Financial Information [Table Text Block] | Unaudited quarterly results of operations are summarized below.
|  | Quarter ended
|  | March 31, |  | June 30, |  | September 30, |  | December 31,
|  | (Dollars in thousands, except per share data)
2012 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Premiums and product charges |  | $ | 22,615 |  |  | $ | 25,156 |  |  | $ | 27,175 |  |  | $ | 26,937 |
Net investment income |  | 326,910 |  |  | 320,259 |  |  | 318,594 |  |  | 321,160 |
Change in fair value of derivatives |  | 259,161 |  |  | (150,847 | ) |  | 161,090 |  |  | (48,266 | )
Net realized gains (losses) on investments, excluding OTTI losses |  | (6,076 | ) |  | (611 | ) |  | (1,238 | ) |  | 1,471 |
Net OTTI losses recognized in operations |  | (2,881 | ) |  | (978 | ) |  | (1,686 | ) |  | (9,387 | )
Total revenues |  | 599,729 |  |  | 192,979 |  |  | 503,935 |  |  | 291,915 |
Net income (loss) |  | 10,471 |  |  | 18,759 |  |  | (7,829 | ) |  | 36,397 |
Earnings (loss) per common share |  | 0.18 |  |  | 0.31 |  |  | (0.13 | ) |  | 0.58 |
Earnings (loss) per common share—assuming dilution |  | 0.16 |  |  | 0.30 |  |  | (0.13 | ) |  | 0.55 |
2011 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Premiums and product charges |  | $ | 19,878 |  |  | $ | 23,181 |  |  | $ | 23,531 |  |  | $ | 21,750 |
Net investment income |  | 292,128 |  |  | 296,878 |  |  | 305,502 |  |  | 324,272 |
Change in fair value of derivatives |  | 148,653 |  |  | (22,029 | ) |  | (333,621 | ) |  | 92,269 |
Net realized gains (losses) on investments, excluding OTTI losses |  | (1,193 | ) |  | (854 | ) |  | (17,292 | ) |  | 698 |
Net OTTI losses recognized in operations |  | (6,571 | ) |  | (2,229 | ) |  | (8,891 | ) |  | (16,285 | )
Total revenues |  | 452,895 |  |  | 294,947 |  |  | (30,771 | ) |  | 422,704 |
Net income (loss) |  | 31,343 |  |  | 18,274 |  |  | (13,068 | ) |  | 49,699 |
Earnings (loss) per common share |  | 0.53 |  |  | 0.31 |  |  | (0.22 | ) |  | 0.83 |
Earnings (loss) per common share—assuming dilution |  | 0.48 |  |  | 0.28 |  |  | (0.22 | ) |  | 0.79 |

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- Definition Tabular disclosure of the quarterly impact of fair value accounting to our fixed index annuity business and the effects on the comparability of net income from period to period. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Tabular disclosure of the quarterly financial data in the annual financial statements. The disclosure includes financial information for each fiscal quarter for the current and previous year, including revenues, gross profit, income (loss) before extraordinary items and cumulative effect of a change in accounting principle and earnings per share data. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 270 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (a)-(j) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=20225539&loc=d3e1280-108306 + Details
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