Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Income Taxes [Abstract]

Components Of Income Taxes

	Year Ended December 31,
	2011			2010			2009
Income tax expense from continuing operations	$	237,326		$	256,274		$	191,024
Income tax expense from discontinued operations		(467	)		11,830			9,216
Shareholders' equity:
Other comprehensive income (loss)		284,161			184,233			458,358
Tax basis compensation expense (from the exercise of stock options and vesting of restricted stock awards) in excess of amounts recognized for financial reporting purposes		(13,121	)		(3,455	)		(253	)
	$	507,899		$	448,882		$	658,345

Income Tax Expense From Continuing Operations

	Year Ended December 31,
	2011		2010		2009
Current income tax expense	$	169,500	$	147,346	$	147,917
Deferred income tax expense		67,826		108,928		43,107
	$	237,326	$	256,274	$	191,024

Summary Of Effective Income Tax Rate

	Year Ended December 31,
	2011			%			2010			%			2009			%
Expected income taxes	$	264,483			35.0	%	$	272,498			35.0	%	$	201,977			35.0	%
Increase (reduction) in income taxes resulting from:
Tax-exempt investment income		(3,468	)		(.5	)		(3,371	)		(.4	)		(3,483	)		(.6	)
Tax settlements		0			0			0			0			(3,101	)		(.5	)
Low income housing investments		(24,258	)		(3.2	)		(12,900	)		(1.7	)		(6,038	)		(1.0	)
Other		569			.1			47			0			1,669			.3
Income tax expense	$	237,326			31.4	%	$	256,274			32.9	%	$	191,024			33.2	%

Significant Portions Of Deferred Tax Assets And Deferred Tax Liabilities

	December 31,
	2011		2010
Deferred tax assets:
Fixed maturity investments	$	35,670	$	50,126
Carryover of tax losses		7,429		12,293
Unrealized losses		0		2,023
Other assets and other liabilities		5,509		1,352
Total gross deferred tax assets		48,608		65,794
Deferred tax liabilities:
Unrealized gains		276,591		0
Employee and agent compensation		57,136		55,781
Deferred acquisition costs		911,816		877,561
Future policy benefits, unearned and advance premiums, and policy claims		355,825		338,771
Total gross deferred tax liabilities		1,601,368		1,272,113
Net deferred tax liability	$	1,552,760	$	1,206,319

Reconciliation Of Beginning And Ending Amount Of Unrecognized Tax Benefits

	2011			2010			2009
Balance at January 1,	$	875		$	3,960		$	8,481
Increase based on tax positions taken in current period		0			245			73
Increase related to tax positions taken in prior periods		0			280			0
Decrease related to tax positions taken in prior periods		(875	)		(3,610	)		(4,594	)
Decrease due to settlements		0			0			0
Balance at December 31,	$	0		$	875		$	3,960