Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2017	Mar. 31, 2016
Income Statement [Abstract]
Services revenue	$ 235,928	$ 182,109
Sales revenue	118,614	120,497
Life, accident and health earned premiums, net	19,941	19,934
Net investment income	15,304	14,079
Net realized gains (losses) on investments	781	(4,875)
Net revenue	390,568	331,744
Operating expenses
Cost of revenue - services	219,612	174,873
Cost of revenue - sales	94,802	99,677
Policy benefits, changes in reserves, and commissions	31,487	34,020
Selling, general and administrative	39,856	35,597
Depreciation and amortization	7,397	5,955
Other operating (income) expenses	(3,558)	887
Total operating expenses	389,596	351,009
Income (loss) from operations	972	(19,265)
Interest expense	(14,115)	(10,326)
Loss on contingent consideration	(231)	0
Income (loss) from equity investees	7,693	(3,576)
Other income (expense), net	(4,910)	(714)
Loss from continuing operations before income taxes	(10,591)	(33,881)
Income tax (expense) benefit	(5,291)	2,539
Net loss	(15,882)	(31,342)
Less: Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest and redeemable noncontrolling interest	1,386	880
Net loss attributable to HC2 Holdings, Inc.	(14,496)	(30,462)
Less: Preferred stock and deemed dividends from conversions	583	1,069
Net loss attributable to common stock and participating preferred stockholders	$ (15,079)	$ (31,531)
Loss per Common Share
Basic (in usd per share)	$ (0.36)	$ (0.89)
Diluted (in usd per share)	$ (0.36)	$ (0.89)
Weighted average common shares outstanding:
Basic (in shares)	41,948	35,262
Diluted (in shares)	41,948	35,262