An eligible employee who is a "late enrollee" can be excluded from group health coverage for how many months?

In the context of group health coverage in Louisiana, a "late enrollee" is defined as an individual who does not enroll when they are first eligible and then seeks coverage at a later time. The law allows for such late enrollees to face an exclusionary period before they can access the group health benefits, functioning as a waiting period due to their delayed enrollment.

The appropriate exclusion period for late enrollees is established as 18 months. This period allows the group plan to manage the risks associated with late enrollment, as these individuals may represent higher-than-average healthcare costs if they have preexisting conditions or immediate healthcare needs that they deferred when initially eligible. Therefore, the correct answer is that a late enrollee can be excluded from group health coverage for 18 months.