Reinsurance (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2012 Life Insurance	Dec. 31, 2011 Life Insurance	Dec. 31, 2012 Long Term Care	Dec. 31, 2012 Disability Income agreement	Dec. 31, 2013 Property and Casualty Personal Insurance	Dec. 31, 2012 Property and Casualty Personal Insurance
Reinsurance
Percentage of risk reinsured on insurance products per entity policy				90.00%
Maximum percentage of death benefit liability not reinsured by the company				10.00%
Maximum amount of life insurance risk retained by the entity on a single life and on any flexible premium survivorship life policy				$ 1,500,000			$ 5,000		$ 750,000
Percentage of risk ceded on a coinsurance basis to subsidiaries of Genworth						50.00%
Amount of traditional life and universal life insurance in force aggregated				191,400,000,000	191,200,000,000
Amount life insurance reinsured at the year end				138,600,000,000	136,200,000,000
Number of types of reinsurance agreements associated with auto and home insurance							3
Maximum recovery per loss									5,000,000
Catastrophe Reinsurance, Amount of auto and home insurance risk retained by the entity per event								20,000,000	20,000,000
Maximum recovery per event catastrophe insurance								125,000,000	110,000,000
Percentage of personal umbrella loss ceded									90.00%
Maximum personal umbrella recovery per loss									5,000,000
Effect of reinsurance on premiums
Direct premiums	1,445,000,000	1,421,000,000	1,382,000,000
Reinsurance ceded	(222,000,000)	(201,000,000)	(203,000,000)
Net premiums	1,223,000,000	1,220,000,000	1,179,000,000
Reinsurance ceded offset other revenues	84,000,000	71,000,000	67,000,000
Reinsurance recovered from reinsurers	201,000,000	201,000,000	172,000,000
Reinsurance recoverables	2,100,000,000	2,000,000,000
Reinsurance recoverable from Genworth	1,600,000,000	1,500,000,000
Future policy benefits and claims for assumed reinsurance arrangements	$ 615,000,000	$ 629,000,000