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Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs, Deferred Sales Inducements and Lifetime Income Benefit Rider Reserves (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2017 | Dec. 31, 2016 | Dec. 31, 2015 | Dec. 31, 2014
Insurance [Abstract] |  |  |  |
Deferred policy acquisition costs, increase (decrease) in amortization due to unlocking adjustment | $ (48,200) | $ 48,200 | $ (11,000) |
Deferred sales inducements, increase (decrease) in amortization due to unlocking adjustment | (34,300) | 35,800 | (5,600) |
Reserves for lifetime income benefit riders, increase (decrease) due to unlocking adjustment | 21,600 | 42,000 | $ 18,300 |
Lifetime income benefit rider, primary election age |  |  | 70 years | 67 years
Liability for Future Policy Benefit, by Product Segment [Line Items] |  |  |  |
Reserve held for lifetime income benefit riders | 56,142,673 | 51,637,026 |  |
Lifetime Income Benefit Rider [Member] |  |  |  |
Liability for Future Policy Benefit, by Product Segment [Line Items] |  |  |  |
Reserve held for lifetime income benefit riders | $ 704,400 | $ 533,400 |  |

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- Definition Item represents adjustments to amortization through a retrospective unlocking process where amortization is adjusted to reflect current estimates of future gross profits/margins (including the impact of realized investment gains and losses) to be realized from a group of products. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Item represents adjustments to amortization through a retrospective unlocking process where amortization is adjusted to reflect current estimates of future gross profits/margins (including the impact of realized investment gains and losses) to be realized from a group of products. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Represents the primary election age to begin receiving lifetime income benefit payments. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Amount of increase (decrease) to interest sensitive and index product benefits due to assumption change. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table. + References No definition available. + Details
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- Definition Amount of accrued obligation to policyholders that relates to insured events for long-duration contracts. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 944 -SubTopic 40 -Section 25 -Paragraph 11 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=28366191&loc=d3e13145-158430 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 944 -SubTopic 40 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -Subparagraph (cc) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65670824&loc=d3e14764-158437 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 944 -SubTopic 210 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.7-03.13(a)(1)) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6879938&loc=d3e572229-122910 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 944 -SubTopic 40 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -Subparagraph (a) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=65670824&loc=d3e14764-158437 + Details
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