Cite as: 536 U. S. 355 (2002)
Thomas, J., dissenting
it is true that disuniformity is the inevitable result of the congressional decision to save local insurance regulation, this does not answer the altogether different question before the Court today, which is whether a state law "regulating insurance" nonetheless provides a separate vehicle to assert a claim for benefits outside of, or in addition to, ERISA's remedial scheme. See, e. g., id., at 54 (citing Russell, 473 U. S., at 146); Harris Trust, 510 U. S., at 99 (citing Silkwood, 464 U. S., at 248). If it does, the exclusivity and uniformity of ERISA's enforcement scheme must remain paramount and the state law is pre-empted in accordance with ordinary principles of conflict pre-emption.9
v. Travelers Ins. Co., 514 U. S. 645, 662 (1995), which holds that a state law providing for surcharges on hospital rates did not, based solely on their indirect economic effect, "bear the requisite 'connection with' ERISA plans to trigger pre-emption." But Travelers addressed only the question whether a state law "relates to" an ERISA plan so as to fall within § 514(a)'s broad pre-emptive scope in the first place and is not relevant to the inquiry here. The Court holds that "[i]t is beyond serious dispute," ante, at 365, that § 4-10 does "relate to" an ERISA plan; § 4-10's economic effects are necessarily relevant to the extent that they upset the object of § 1132(a). See Ingersoll-Rand Co. v. McClendon, 498 U. S. 133, 142 (1990) ("Section 514(a) was intended to ensure that plans and plan sponsors would be subject to a uniform body of benefits law; the goal was to minimize the administrative and financial burden of complying with conflicting directives among States or between States and the Federal Government. Otherwise, the inefficiencies created could work to the detriment of plan beneficiaries").
9 The Court isolates the "plan" from the HMO and then concludes that the independent review provision does not "threaten the object of 29 U. S. C. § 1132" because it does not affect the plan, but only the HMO. Ante, at 381, n. 11. To my knowledge such a distinction is novel. Cf. Pegram, 530 U. S., at 223 (recognizing that the agreement between an HMO and an employer may provide elements of a plan by setting out the rules under which care is provided). Its application is particularly novel here, where the Court appears to view the HMO as the plan administrator, leaving one to wonder how the myriad state independent review procedures can help but have an impact on plan administration. Ante, at 363, n. 3.
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