| **Commitments, Contingencies, and Guarantees**          | 9 Months Ended                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
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| **Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]** |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| Commitments, Contingencies, and Guarantees              | Commitments, Contingencies, and GuaranteesCommitments and ContingenciesThe Company holds an investment in a real estate joint venture.  In the normal course of business, the Company, on a joint and several basis with other unrelated insurance company shareholders, has committed to continue funding the operating deficits of this joint venture.  Additionally, the Company and the other unrelated shareholders, on a joint and several basis, have guaranteed an operating lease for an office building, which expires in 2016.  The guarantee of the operating lease is a parallel guarantee to the commitment to fund operating deficits; consequently, the separate guarantee to the lessor is not expected to be triggered as long as the joint venture continues to be funded by its shareholders which provide liquidity to make its annual lease payments.In the event that the other parties to the joint venture are unable to meet their commitments in funding the operations of this joint venture, the Company would be required to assume the obligation for the entire office building operating lease.  The Company does not believe it is likely that it will be required to do so.  However, the maximum potential future lease payments and other related costs at September 30, 2011 that the Company could be required to pay under this guarantee, in excess of amounts already recorded, were approximately $142 million.  If the Company were required to assume the entire lease obligation, the Company would have the right to pursue reimbursement from the other shareholders and the right to all sublease revenues.The Company has entered into a limited number of contracts with minimum payments, primarily related to outsourced services and software.  Estimated future minimum payments under these contracts, which amounted to approximately $35 million at September 30, 2011, were $24 million in 2011, $3 million in 2012, and $8 million thereafter.Guarantees In the course of selling business entities and assets to third parties, the Company has agreed to indemnify purchasers for losses arising out of breaches of representation and warranties with respect to the business entities or assets being sold, including, in certain cases, losses arising from undisclosed liabilities or certain named litigation.  Such indemnification provisions generally survive for periods ranging from nine months following the applicable closing date to the expiration of the relevant statutes of limitation.  As of September 30, 2011, the aggregate amount of quantifiable indemnification agreements in effect for sales of business entities, assets and third party loans was $719 million.In addition, the Company has agreed to provide indemnification to third party purchasers for certain losses associated with sold business entities or assets that are not limited by a contractual monetary amount.  As of September 30, 2011, the Company had outstanding unlimited indemnifications in connection with the sales of certain of its business entities or assets that included tax liabilities arising prior to a purchaser's ownership of an entity or asset, defects in title at the time of sale, employee claims arising prior to closing and in some cases losses arising from certain litigation and undisclosed liabilities.  These indemnification agreements survive until the applicable statutes of limitation expire, or until the agreed upon contract terms expire.  As of September 30, 2011 and December 31, 2010, the Company had recorded liabilities of approximately $16 million related to indemnification agreements and management believes that it is not likely that any future indemnity claims will be significantly greater than the amounts recorded. |

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| - Definition
The entire disclosure for commitments and contingencies.
+ References
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