Cite as: 538 U. S. 329 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
of Kentucky, asserting that ERISA, 88 Stat. 832, as amended, pre-empts Kentucky's AWP laws. ERISA preempts all state laws "insofar as they may now or hereafter relate to any employee benefit plan," 29 U. S. C. § 1144(a), but state "law[s] . . . which regulat[e] insurance, banking, or securities" are saved from pre-emption, § 1144(b)(2)(A). The District Court concluded that although both AWP statutes "relate to" employee benefit plans under § 1144(a), each law "regulates insurance" and is therefore saved from preemption by § 1144(b)(2)(A). App. to Pet. for Cert. 64a-84a. In affirming the District Court, the Sixth Circuit also concluded that the AWP laws "regulat[e] insurance" and fall within ERISA's saving clause. Kentucky Assn. of Health Plans, Inc. v. Nichols, 227 F. 3d 352, 363-372 (2000). Relying on UNUM Life Ins. Co. of America v. Ward, 526 U. S. 358 (1999), the Sixth Circuit first held that Kentucky's AWP laws regulate insurance "as a matter of common sense," 227 F. 3d, at 364, because they are "specifically directed toward 'insurers' and the insurance industry . . . ," id., at 366. The Sixth Circuit then considered, as "checking points or guide-posts" in its analysis, the three factors used to determine whether a practice fits within "the business of health insurance" in our cases interpreting the McCarran-Ferguson Act. Id., at 364. These factors are: "first, whether the practice has the effect of transferring or spreading a policyholder's risk; second, whether the practice is an integral part of the policy relationship between the insurer and the insured; and third, whether the practice is limited to entities within the insurance industry." Union Labor Life Ins. Co. v. Pireno, 458 U. S. 119, 129 (1982). The Sixth Circuit found all three factors satisfied. 227 F. 3d, at 368-371. Notwithstanding its analysis of the McCarran-Ferguson factors, the Sixth Circuit reiterated that the "basic test" under ERISA's saving clause is whether, from a commonsense view, the Kentucky AWP laws regulate insurance. Id., at 372. Finding that the laws passed both the "common sense" test and the
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