Schedule I - Summary of Investments Other Than investments in Related Parties (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	$ 10,186,465	$ 10,145,266
Fair Value	9,771,673	10,110,786
Equity securities, at cost	18,765	11,614
Equity securities, at fair value	20,613	15,375
Fixed Maturities, Trading, Amortized Cost	294,549	161,393
Fixed maturities, trading, at fair value	289,752	166,360
Commercial mortgage and other loans	1,353,478	1,387,012
Policy loans	12,805	12,558
Short-term investments	37,568
Other invested assets	348,541	335,811
Total Investment at Cost	12,252,171
Total investment per Balance Sheet	11,834,430	12,738,973
Fixed maturities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	10,186,465	10,145,266
Fair Value	9,771,673	10,110,786
Equity securities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Equity securities, at cost	18,765
Equity securities, at fair value	20,613
Available-for-sale \| Fixed maturities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	10,186,465
Fair Value	9,771,673
Trading \| Fixed maturities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Fixed Maturities, Trading, Amortized Cost	294,549
Fixed maturities, trading, at fair value	289,752
U.S. Treasury securities and obligations of U.S. government authorities and agencies \| Fixed maturities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	5,240,519	5,059,168
Fair Value	4,884,091	4,831,650
Obligations of U.S. states and their political subdivisions \| Fixed maturities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	133,670	102,709
Fair Value	131,164	104,640
Foreign government bonds \| Fixed maturities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	199,044	133,859
Fair Value	199,636	140,305
Asset-backed securities \| Fixed maturities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	505,862	341,277
Fair Value	505,244	345,587
Residential mortgage-backed securities \| Fixed maturities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	48,622	163,334
Fair Value	49,414	165,745
Commercial mortgage-backed securities \| Fixed maturities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	364,601	502,695
Fair Value	361,880	$ 505,684
Public utilities \| Available-for-sale \| Fixed maturities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	572,791
Fair Value	565,510
Certificates of deposit \| Available-for-sale \| Fixed maturities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	0
Fair Value	0
All other corporate bonds \| Available-for-sale \| Fixed maturities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	3,091,931
Fair Value	3,046,569
Redeemable preferred stock \| Available-for-sale \| Fixed maturities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Amortized Cost	29,425
Fair Value	28,165
Other common stock \| Equity securities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Equity securities, at cost	11,519
Equity securities, at fair value	12,341
Mutual funds \| Equity securities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Equity securities, at cost	4,902
Equity securities, at fair value	4,908
Perpetual preferred stocks \| Equity securities
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Equity securities, at cost	2,344
Equity securities, at fair value	$ 3,364

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