130
Opinion of the Court
covered benefit plans (and that does not fall within a § 514(b) exception) "even if the law is not specifically designed to affect such plans, or the effect is only indirect," Ingersoll-Rand, supra, at 139, and even if the law is "consistent with ERISA's substantive requirements," Metropolitan Life, supra, at 739.1
Section 2(c)(2) of the District's Equity Amendment Act specifically refers to welfare benefit plans regulated by ERISA and on that basis alone is pre-empted. The health insurance coverage that § 2(c)(2) requires employers to provide for eligible employees is measured by reference to "the existing health insurance coverage" provided by the employer and "shall be at the same benefit level." D. C. Code Ann. §§ 36-307(a-1)(1) and (3) (Supp. 1992). The employee's "existing health insurance coverage," in turn, is a welfare benefit plan under ERISA § 3(1), because it involves a fund or program maintained by an employer for the purpose of providing health benefits for the employee "through the purchase of insurance or otherwise." § 3(1), 29 U. S. C. § 1002(1).2 Such employer-sponsored health insurance programs are subject to ERISA regulation, see § 4(a), 29 U. S. C. § 1003(a), and any state law imposing requirements by refer-1 Pre-emption does not occur, however, if the state law has only a "tenuous, remote, or peripheral" connection with covered plans, Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463 U. S. 85, 100, n. 21 (1983), as is the case with many laws of general applicability, see Mackey, 486 U. S., at 830-838, and n. 12; cf. Ingersoll-Rand, 498 U. S., at 139.
2 In Fort Halifax Packing Co. v. Coyne, 482 U. S. 1 (1987), we construed the word "plan" to connote some minimal, ongoing "administrative" scheme or practice, and held that "a one-time, lump-sum payment triggered by a single event" does not qualify as an employer-sponsored benefit plan. Id., at 12. Petitioners do not contend that employers in the District of Columbia provide health insurance for their employees without thereby administering welfare plans within the meaning of ERISA, and petitioners concede that the existing health insurance sponsored by respondent constitutes an ERISA plan. Tr. of Oral Arg. 14.
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