As time runs out to persuade the sitting Congress to kill or further delay the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that employers provide health insurance to their workers, trade groups and big companies in the service industry are redeploying their forces and reluctantly preparing to live with the law.

“The vast majority of clients are morose but not mutinous,” said Alden Bianchi, who leads the employee-benefits and executive-compensation practice at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo.