Cite as: 538 U. S. 329 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
B
Petitioners claim that the AWP laws do not regulate insurers with respect to an insurance practice because, unlike the state laws we held saved from pre-emption in Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Massachusetts, 471 U. S. 724 (1985), UNUM, and Rush Prudential, they do not control the actual terms of insurance policies. Rather, they focus upon the relationship between an insurer and third-party providers—which in petitioners' view does not constitute an "insurance practice."
In support of their contention, petitioners rely on Group Life & Health Ins. Co. v. Royal Drug Co., 440 U. S. 205, 210 (1979), which held that third-party provider arrangements between insurers and pharmacies were not "the 'business of insurance' " under § 2(b) of the McCarran-Ferguson Act.2 ERISA's saving clause, however, is not concerned (as is the McCarran-Ferguson Act provision) with how to characterize conduct undertaken by private actors, but with how to characterize state laws in regard to what they "regulate." It does not follow from Royal Drug that a law mandating certain insurer-provider relationships fails to "regulate insurance." Suppose a state law required all licensed attorneys to participate in 10 hours of continuing legal education (CLE) each year. This statute "regulates" the practice of law—
2 Section 2 of the McCarran-Ferguson Act provides: "(a) The business of insurance, and every person engaged therein, shall be subject to the laws of the several States which relate to the regulation or taxation of such business.
"(b) 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, or which imposes a fee or tax upon such business, unless such Act specifically relates to the business of insurance: Provided, That after June 30, 1948, the Act of July 2, 1890, as amended, known as the Sherman Act, and the Act of October 15, 1914, as amended, known as the Clayton Act, and the Act of September 26, 1914, known as the Federal Trade Commission Act, as amended, shall be applicable to the business of insurance to the extent that such business is not regulated by State law." 59 Stat. 34, 15 U. S. C. § 1012 (emphasis added).
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