DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended		1 Months Ended			3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2011	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2011	Feb. 28, 2011 Star/Edison Sale	Sep. 30, 2010 Star/Edison Sale	Jan. 31, 2011 Nan Shan	Jun. 30, 2011 Nan Shan	Jun. 30, 2011 Nan Shan	Jun. 30, 2011 Discontinued operations	Jun. 30, 2011 Discontinued operations
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations
Consideration in cash						$ 4,800,000,000
Amount of debt assumed by purchaser as part of total consideration received						600,000,000
Pre-tax gain (loss) reflected in Income (loss) from discontinued operations in the Income Statement					3,500,000,000			559,000,000	864,000,000	(719,000,000)	2,309,000,000
Voting interest (as a percent)							97.57%
Revenues:
Premiums	9,619,000,000	9,898,000,000	19,080,000,000	19,380,000,000						1,548,000,000	4,097,000,000
Net investment income	4,481,000,000	4,464,000,000	11,586,000,000	10,033,000,000						497,000,000	1,209,000,000
Net realized capital gains	397,000,000	75,000,000	147,000,000	(660,000,000)						595,000,000	964,000,000
Other income	829,000,000	427,000,000	1,109,000,000	1,710,000,000							5,000,000
Total revenues	17,123,000,000	16,680,000,000	35,566,000,000	34,119,000,000						2,640,000,000	6,275,000,000
Benefits, claims and expenses	15,372,000,000	14,886,000,000	29,231,000,000	33,635,000,000						2,001,000,000	5,096,000,000
Interest expense allocation	954,000,000	1,001,000,000	1,907,000,000	2,085,000,000							2,000,000
Income from discontinued operations										639,000,000	1,177,000,000
Gain (loss) on sales					3,500,000,000			559,000,000	864,000,000	(719,000,000)	2,309,000,000
Income (loss) from discontinued operations, before tax expense (benefit)										(80,000,000)	3,486,000,000
Income tax expense (benefit)										(43,000,000)	938,000,000
Income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of income tax	$ (5,000,000)	$ (37,000,000)	$ 8,000,000	$ 2,548,000,000						$ (37,000,000)	$ 2,548,000,000