“Republican lawmakers say they anticipate a flood of questions in the coming months from constituents on the implementation of ObamaCare, which will pose a dilemma for the GOP,” The Hill reports.

Some Republicans indicated “they will not assist constituents in navigating the law and obtaining benefits. Others said they would tell people to call the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).”

President Obama’s signature health care reform law “remains unpopular with the American public just months before it fully goes into effect,” according to the new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

“The poll shows 49% of Americans say they believe the Affordable Care Act is a bad idea. That’s the highest number recorded on this question since the poll began measuring it in 2009. Just 37% say the plan is a good idea.”

Having failed to repeal or strike down President Obama’s health care plan, Wonk Wire notes Republicans are now just trying to prevent the insurance exchanges from working.

NPR: “President Obama often tells audiences that he has waged his last campaign. But that’s not exactly true. The White House is gearing up for a massive campaign this summer that will cover all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C. And the president’s legacy may hinge on whether it succeeds or fails. The Affordable Care Act, or ‘Obamacare,’ has been through more life-and-death cliffhangers than a season finale of Homeland. After squeaker votes in Congress and a 5-4 ruling upholding the law at the Supreme Court, now there’s another big hurdle: getting uninsured people to buy health care when it becomes available Oct. 1.”

New York Times: “Almost no law as sprawling and consequential as the Affordable Care Act has passed without changes — significant structural changes or routine tweaks known as ‘technical corrections’ — in subsequent months and years… But as they prowl Capitol Hill, business lobbyists… health care providers and others seeking changes are finding, to their dismay, that in a polarized Congress, accomplishing them has become all but impossible.”

“Republicans simply want to see the entire law go away and will not take part in adjusting it. Democrats are petrified of reopening a politically charged law that threatens to derail careers as the Republicans once again seize on it before an election year.”

“As a result, a landmark law that almost everyone agrees has flaws is likely to take effect unchanged.”

A new CNN/ORC Poll finds 54% of Americans oppose President Obama’s new health care law, three years after he signed what was his signature domestic policy achievement.

But the poll also indicates that more than a quarter of those who oppose Obamacare, say they don’t support the measure because it doesn’t go far enough.

While promoting her new book, former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) recounted a phone call with President Obama in which he told her she could be “a modern-day Joan of Arc” by supporting his health care bill, the Portland Press Herald reports.

When Snowe pointed out Joan of Arc had been burned at the stake, Obama reportedly replied: “Don’t worry, I’ll be there with a fire hose!” She still voted against the bill on the Senate floor.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) predicted that President Obama’s health care law will be the biggest issue of the 2014 midterm elections, the Washington Post reports.

Said McConnell: “I don’t know what the issues will be next year. If I were predicting what’s likely to be the biggest issue in the 2014 election, I think it would be Obamacare. I think it’s coming back big-time.”

“The 37th time won’t be the charm. But House Republicans are charging forward anyway this week on a vote to repeal President Obama’s signature health care overhaul, which will put the number of times they have tried to eliminate, defund or curtail the law past the three-dozen mark,” the New York Times reports.

“The repeal vote, which is likely to occur Thursday, will be at least the 43rd day since Republicans took over the House that they have devoted time to voting on the issue. To put that in perspective, they have held votes on only 281 days since taking power in January 2011… That means that since 2011, Republicans have spent no less than 15 percent of their time on the House floor on repeal in some way. ”

President Obama “turns his attention back Friday to one of his
signature issues, health care. A White House event this afternoon ties
implementation of the massive 2010 health care law to Mother’s Day on
Sunday. Obama will discuss the benefits of the law for women, and also
ask mothers to encourage young people to sign up when insurance
exchanges go on line in October,” USA Today reports.

First Read: “The name
of the game for them is convincing younger HEALTHIER uninsured Americans
to enroll. Why? Because without younger healthier Americans, the
numbers don’t work. As for the GOP, this is their last shot at stopping
this law, and they know it. Once it’s in place and Americans are
enrolled, they’ll have a harder and harder time trying to unwind it.
Time is not on their side.”

“The House will vote again next week to repeal the 2010 health-care reform law, a decision by top Republican leaders designed in part to appease GOP freshmen lawmakers who have not had an opportunity to take a vote on the issue,” the Washington Post reports.

“Depending on which congressional aides are asked, next week’s vote will be anywhere between the 33rd or 37th attempt to repeal all or part of the law since its passage in 2010.”

“As the administration struggles to put in place the final, complex piece of President Obama’s signature health care law, an endeavor on a scale not seen since Medicare’s creation nearly a half-century ago, Democrats are worried that major snags will be exploited by Republicans in next year’s midterm elections,” the New York Times reports.

“For the third time, Republicans are trying to make the law perhaps the biggest issue of the elections, and are preparing to exploit every problem that arises. After many unsuccessful efforts to repeal the law, the Republican-led House plans another vote soon. And Republican governors or legislatures in many states are balking at participating, leaving Washington responsible for the marketplaces.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) writes in the Philadelphia Inquirer that President Obama was “misleading” and making “untrue” statements about Obamacare and its implementation in his news conference this week.

“The president has refused repeated Republican calls to take concerns about Obamacare public and prepare the American people for the changes ahead. In fact, on Tuesday, he actually chose to do the exact opposite, saying that ‘this thing’s already happened’ for most Americans. ‘Full stop, that’s it… they don’t have to worry about anything else.’ Well, that’s simply untrue, and that kind of misleading statement is only going to cause more Americans to be blindsided when more pieces of the law start to take effect.”

First Read notes that Republicans “have done a very good job of arguing that implementing the new health-care law is so big, so complicated.”

But President Obama knocked that down yesterday: “For the 85% to 90% of Americans who already have health insurance, this thing has already happened. And their only impact is that their insurance is stronger, better, more secure than it was before — full stop. That’s it. They don’t have to worry about anything else.”

He added, “So all the implementation issues that are coming up are implementation issues related to that small group of people, 10 to 15 percent of Americans — now, it’s still 30 million Americans, but a relatively narrow group — who don’t have health insurance right now.”

A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds that just 58% of Americans are aware that Obamacare is still the law of the land.

Key findings: 23% don’t know if it’s the law, 7% think the Supreme Court struck it down and 12% say Congress repealed Obamacare.

“We already know that, left to its own devices, this doesn’t end up in a good place. Anyone who thinks this issue is done is fooling themselves.”

— Democratic pollster Mark Mellman, quoted by the New York Times, on the continuing political challenges of Obamacare.

David Drucker: “To repeal or dismantle? That is the internal debate roiling House Republicans as they plot their strategy on the landmark 2010 health care law, as its implementation accelerates.”

“House GOP leaders are pushing their conference to embrace a series of messaging bills altering or dismantling pieces of the law to publicize for voters what Republicans argue are the statute’s many failed and damaging policies. Their goal is to turn the law into an issue they can use against Democrats in the 2014 midterms.”

“But rank-and-file Republicans, particularly freshmen and sophomore members, worry that any legislation to repeal a portion of the law could be interpreted by their constituents as strengthening it.”

“Congressional leaders in both parties are engaged in high-level, confidential talks about exempting lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides from the insurance exchanges they are mandated to join as part of President Obama’s health care overhaul,” Politico reports.

“The talks — which involve Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), the Obama administration and other top lawmakers — are extraordinarily sensitive, with both sides acutely aware of the potential for political fallout from giving carve-outs from the hugely controversial law to 535 lawmakers and thousands of their aides.”