Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/16pdf/16-149_6jfm.pdf
Page Number: 9.0

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COVENTRY HEALTH CARE OF MO., INC. v. NEVILS 

Opinion of the Court 

(§8902(m)(1)  preempts 
law); 
Helfrich  v.  Blue  Cross  &  Blue  Shield  Assn.,  804  F. 3d 
1090, 1092 (CA10 2015) (same). 

state  antisubrogation 

II 

Section  8902(m)(1)  places  two  preconditions  on  federal 
preemption.  See supra, at 1.  The parties agree that Mis-
souri’s  law  prohibiting  subrogation  and  reimbursement
meets  one  of  the  two  limitations,  i.e.,  the  State’s  law  “re-
lates  to  health  insurance  or  plans.”    §8902(m)(1).    They
dispute only whether the subrogation and reimbursement
requirements  in  OPM’s  contract  with  Coventry  “relate  to 
the  nature,  provision,  or  extent  of  coverage  or  benefits,” 
“including payments with respect to benefits.”  Ibid. 

Coventry  contends  that  §8902(m)(1)  unambiguously 
covers the contractual terms at issue here.  In any event, 
Coventry,  joined  by  the  United  States  as  amicus  curiae, 
urges  that  the  rule  published  by  OPM  in  2015  leaves  no 
room for doubt that insurance-contract terms providing for
subrogation  and  reimbursement  fall  within  §8902(m)(1)’s
preemptive  scope.    See  supra,  at  3.    Deference  is  due  to 
OPM’s  reading,  Coventry  and  the  United  States  assert,
under  Chevron  U. S. A.  Inc.  v.  Natural  Resources  Defense 
Council,  Inc.,  467  U. S.  837  (1984).    In  Nevils’  view,  by
contrast, §8902(m)(1) does not preempt state antisubroga-
tion and antireimbursement laws in light of the presump-
tion against preemption.  Given that presumption, Nevils
maintains,  OPM’s  rule  is  not  entitled  to  deference. 
Though  we  have  called  Nevils’  construction  “plausible,” 
McVeigh, 547 U. S., at 698, the reading advanced by Cov-
entry  and  the  United  States  best  comports  with 
§8902(m)(1)’s text, context, and purpose. 

A 
Contractual  provisions  for  subrogation  and  reimburse-
ment  “relate  to  . . .  payments  with  respect  to  benefits”