Reviewed by Joseph Lipari on 2026-10-24.
Start with four pieces of identity
A plan name alone is not a complete lookup key. MPL keeps the CMS contract, plan ID, segment, and coverage year together. The same name can appear on different records, and an identifier can persist while annual benefits change.
- Contract
- The CMS insurance-contract identifier, such as H9999.
- Plan
- The three-digit plan number within that contract.
- Segment
- The three-digit identifier that distinguishes segments of that plan where applicable. Do not infer location or eligibility from its number.
- Coverage year
- The year whose benefits the record describes; it is separate from the code.
The label below shows how the pieces fit together.
| Year | Contract | Plan | Segment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | H9999 | 123 | 002 |
Illustrative lookup key: H9999-123-002, year 2027.
Use the exact record
- Find the coverage year on the document. A download date is not a coverage year.
- Enter the full public code if printed. MPL accepts spaces or dashes.
- If a base code produces several segments, match the location and documents before choosing. Do not select the first result merely because it appears first.
- Confirm the carrier and plan identity, then verify the applicable service area and eligibility with the plan. A code match alone does not establish either.
Never paste a Medicare number, member identifier, or medical information.
Read the year in a real example
2027 H5216-435-002 is the 2027 example used in these guides. 2026 H1278-013-000 is a different, explicitly historical record. Read the coverage-year label before using a benefit amount; the site’s default year can change.
If MPL has retained the same exact code for another year, a missing page may offer a labeled link to that record. Following it changes the coverage year. Absence from one annual snapshot does not itself prove termination or identify a successor.
Check the example’s source: 2027 H5216-435-002
Humana Essentials Plus Giveback (PPO). These are frozen public-data excerpts prepared 2026-10-24. CMS archive hashes and selected raw rows matched the retained extract. This check does not establish a member’s coverage or a new insurer-document review.
| Field | Retained value |
|---|---|
| CMS contract / plan / segment | H5216-435-002 |
| Coverage year | 2027 |
| Employer/union indicator | Not marked employer/union only |
Download the frozen example evidence (JSON) · Open the annual data file
CMS files, field names and row locations
The annual data file may contain multiple plans. Find H5216-435-002 and contractYear: 2027. The frozen evidence file keeps this example separate from later data revisions.
- CMS contract / plan / segment
contractId / planId / segmentId
pbp_Section_A.txt: pbp_a_hnumber, pbp_a_plan_identifier, segment_id- Coverage year
contractYear
Approved CY2027 PBP release and annual binding; the year is not inferred from the code- Employer/union indicator
employerOnly
pbp_Section_A.txt: pbp_a_eghp_yn
pbp_Section_A.txt: data-record position 4397 (header excluded); row SHA-256c3234d5781530f0ce9e6bb98ffb487fa0e58c00a5845565a07f6a8c5cb98a63a.pbp_Section_D.txt: data-record position 4395 (header excluded); row SHA-256b50e20df3623b1232e059b051654af2871521cf624a76c3d2ddeca8f47b5cd6a.pbp_b1a_inpat_hosp.txt: data-record position 4395 (header excluded); row SHA-256c90ec561ebeb0eb68a6cebd1741221088443cdd8c116980cb8534fba6e228ac4.pbp_mrx.txt: data-record position 4395 (header excluded); row SHA-256d51e97f337d18a700aa845c17644724384baf33eba7b3d031ef5dc37dfc1c754.
Landscape amount fields agree across 47 matched geographic rows. Their data-record positions are included in the frozen evidence.
CMS approved 2027 PBP ZIP · CMS CY2027 Landscape 202609.1 ZIP
PBP dictionary: PBP_Benefits_2027_dictionary.xlsx. PBP ZIP SHA-256: 6d8430e2ecb51acf3cc8547f12dd73506aa73f0dccf034cc3c3393868576ff47. Retained normalized snapshot SHA-256: f4813cbbe4f3c5b5a865934ce9a62b89ad44f3def88e487716fcd02abea5bee3.
When the segment is unclear
Ask the insurer or group administrator to confirm the full CMS identifier and applicable coverage period. A county or plan-name resemblance is not enough to resolve ambiguous identity. Keep that uncertainty visible until the record is matched.
Once identity is established, select the same coverage year for both records in comparison to read reported fields while keeping eligibility and network qualifications separate.
Primary sources
Reference sources consulted for guide preparation on 2026-10-24. Retained insurer-document checks have their own stated dates and scope; those checks were not repeated during guide preparation. Public datasets and documents can be revised. An annual record is not a personalized eligibility determination.
Examples use the retained 2027 normalized snapshot. SHA-256: f4813cbbe4f3c5b5a865934ce9a62b89ad44f3def88e487716fcd02abea5bee3.