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Significant Accounting Policies and Pronouncements
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2021
Accounting Policies [Abstract]  
Significant Accounting Policies and Pronouncements SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND PRONOUNCEMENTS
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Changes to U.S. GAAP are established by the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") in the form of Accounting Standards Updates ("ASUs") to the FASB Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC"). The Company considers the applicability and impact of all ASUs. ASUs listed below include those that have been adopted during the current fiscal year and/or those that have been issued but not yet adopted as of March 31, 2021, and as of the date of this filing. ASUs not listed below were assessed and determined to be either not applicable or not material.

ASU issued but not yet adopted as of March 31, 2021 — ASU 2018-12

ASU 2018-12, Financial Services - Insurance (Topic 944): Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts, was issued by the FASB on August 15, 2018 and is expected to have a significant impact on the Financial Statements and Notes to the Financial Statements. In October 2019, the FASB issued ASU 2019-09, Financial Services - Insurance (Topic 944): Effective Date to affirm its decision to defer the effective date of ASU 2018-12 to January 1, 2022 (with early adoption permitted), representing a one year extension from the original effective date of January 1, 2021. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, in November 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-11, Financial Services-Insurance (Topic 944): Effective Date and Early Application to defer for an additional one year the effective date of ASU 2018-12 from January 1, 2022 to January 1, 2023, and to provide transition relief to facilitate the early adoption of the ASU. The transition relief would allow large calendar-year public companies that early adopt ASU 2018-12 to apply the guidance either as of January 1, 2020 or January 1, 2021 (and record transition adjustments as of January 1, 2020 or January 1, 2021, respectively) in the 2022 financial statements. Companies that do not early adopt ASU 2018-12 would apply the guidance as of January 1, 2021 (and record transition adjustments as of January 1, 2021) in the 2023 financial statements. The Company currently intends to adopt ASU 2018-12 effective January 1, 2023. ASU 2018-12 will impact, at least to some extent, the accounting and disclosure requirements for all long-duration insurance and investment contracts issued by the Company. Outlined below are four key areas of change, although there are other less significant changes not noted below. In addition to the impacts to the balance sheet upon transition, the Company also expects an impact to the pattern of earnings emergence following the transition date.
ASU 2018-12 Amended TopicDescriptionMethod of adoptionEffect on the financial statements or other significant matters
Cash flow assumptions used to measure the liability for future policy benefits for non-participating traditional and limited-pay insurance productsRequires an entity to review, and if necessary, update the cash flow assumptions used to measure the liability for future policy benefits, for both changes in future assumptions and actual experience, at least annually using a retrospective update method with a cumulative catch-up adjustment recorded in a separate line item in the Statements of Operations.An entity may choose one of two adoption methods for the liability for future policy benefits: (1) a modified retrospective transition method whereby the entity may choose to apply the amendments to contracts in force as of the beginning of the prior year (if early adoption is elected) or as of the beginning of the earliest period presented on the basis of their existing carrying amounts, adjusted for the removal of any related amounts in Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) ("AOCI") or (2) a full retrospective transition method.The options for method of adoption and the impacts of such methods are under assessment.
Discount rate assumption used to measure the liability for future policy benefits for non-participating traditional and limited-pay insurance productsRequires discount rate assumptions to be based on an upper-medium grade fixed income instrument yield, which will be updated each quarter with the impact recorded through OCI. An entity shall maximize the use of relevant observable information and minimize the use of unobservable information in determining the discount rate assumptions.As noted above, an entity may choose either a modified retrospective transition method or full retrospective transition method for the liability for future policy benefits. Under either method, for balance sheet remeasurement purposes, the liability for future policy benefits will be remeasured using current discount rates as of either the beginning of the prior year (if early adoption is elected)or the beginning of the earliest period presented with the impact recorded as a cumulative effect adjustment to AOCI.Upon adoption, under either transition method, there will be an adjustment to AOCI as a result of remeasuring in force contract liabilities using current upper-medium grade fixed income instrument yields. The adjustment upon adoption will largely reflect the difference between discount rates locked-in at contract inception versus current discount rates at transition. The magnitude of such adjustment is currently being assessed.
Amortization of DAC and other balancesRequires DAC and other balances, such as unearned revenue reserves and DSI, to be amortized on a constant level basis over the expected term of the related contract, independent of expected profitability.An entity may apply one of two adoption methods: (1) a modified retrospective transition method whereby the entity may choose to apply the amendments to contracts in force as of the beginning of the prior year (if early adoption is elected) or as of the beginning of the earliest period presented on the basis of their existing carrying amounts, adjusted for the removal of any related amounts in AOCI or (2) if an entity chooses a full retrospective transition method for its liability for future policy benefits, as described above, it is required to also use a full retrospective transition method for DAC and other balances.The options for method of adoption and the impacts of such methods are under assessment. Under the modified retrospective transition method, the Company would not expect a significant impact to the balance sheet, other than the impact of the removal of any related amounts in AOCI.
Market Risk Benefits ("MRB")Requires an entity to measure all market risk benefits (e.g., living benefit and death benefit guarantees associated with variable annuities) at fair value, and record MRB assets and liabilities separately on the Statements of Financial Position. Changes in fair value of market risk benefits are recorded in net income, except for the portion of the change in MRB liabilities attributable to changes in an entity’s non-performance risk ("NPR"), which is recognized in OCI.An entity shall adopt the guidance for market risk benefits using the retrospective transition method, which includes a cumulative-effect adjustment on the balance sheet as of either the beginning of prior year (if early adoption is elected) or the beginning of the earliest period presented. An entity shall maximize the use of relevant observable information and minimize the use of unobservable information in determining the balance of the market risk benefits upon adoption.Upon adoption, the Company expects an impact to retained earnings for the difference between the fair value and carrying value of benefits not currently measured at fair value (e.g., guaranteed minimum death benefits on variable annuities) and an impact from reclassifying the cumulative effect of changes in NPR from retained earnings to AOCI. The magnitude of such adjustments is currently being assessed.
Modifications related to COVID-19

We assess modifications to certain fixed income instruments on a case-by-case basis to evaluate whether a troubled debt restructuring ("TDR") has occurred. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act") provides a temporary suspension of TDR accounting for certain COVID-19 related modifications where the investment was not more than 30 days past due as of December 31, 2019 (“TDR Relief”). The TDR Relief was set to expire on December 31, 2020, but was extended through December 31, 2021 by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. The Company elected to apply the TDR Relief beginning in the first quarter of 2021. The TDR Relief does not apply to modifications completed 60 days after the national emergency related to COVID-19 ends, or December 31, 2021, whichever comes earlier. As of March 31, 2021, any such modifications did not have a material impact on the Company's results of operations. For additional information regarding the Company’s policies for troubled debt restructurings, see Note 2 to the Financial Statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.