Judge: Medicaid deal binding for Kentucky Spirit

Kentucky Spirit Health Plan doesn't have the right to withdraw early from a contract with the state as a Medicaid managed-care organization.

That was the ruling by Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate on Friday.

The Courier-Journal reported Friday that Wingate found that Kentucky Spirit would be in breach of the contract if it pulls out of the state on July 5 as it intends. Wingate also said the state would be entitled to damages.

Kentucky Spirit, a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Centene Corp., is one of three companies that won state Medicaid contracts in 2011.

Centene announced last fall that the state had provided erroneous information that led to financial losses of more than $120 million.