98
Opinion of the Court
conflicts, Hancock contends, ERISA must yield, because Congress reserved to the States primary responsibility for regulation of the insurance industry. We are satisfied that Congress did not order the unqualified deferral to state law that Hancock both advocates and attributes to the federal lawmakers. Instead, we hold, ERISA leaves room for complementary or dual federal and state regulation, and calls for federal supremacy when the two regimes cannot be harmonized or accommodated.
To support its contention, Hancock refers first to the McCarran-Ferguson Act, 59 Stat. 33, as amended, 15 U. S. C. § 1011 et seq., which provides:
"The business of insurance, and every person engaged therein, shall be subject to the laws of the several States which relate to the regulation . . . of such business." 15 U. S. C. § 1012(a). "No Act of Congress shall be construed to invalidate,
impair or supersede any law enacted by any State for the purpose of regulating the business of insurance . . . unless such Act specifically relates to the business of insurance . . . ." § 1012(b).
But as the United States points out, "ERISA, both in general and in the guaranteed benefit policy provision in particular, obviously and specifically relates to the business of insurance." Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 23, n. 13.8 Thus, the McCarran-Ferguson Act does not surrender regulation exclusively to the States so as to preclude the application of ERISA to an insurer's actions under a general account contract. See ibid.
930 F. 2d 267, 275, n. 17 (CA3 1991) (noting state regulations requiring insurers to treat all contractholders fairly and equitably). See generally McGill & Grubbs 492-494.
8 We called attention to the "deliberately expansive" character of ERISA's preemption provisions in Pilot Life Ins. Co. v. Dedeaux, 481 U. S. 41, 45-46 (1987).
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