The affordable care act is the most reasonable path from the current american system to a system on par with other first world countries. This especially given the sort of republican opposition it's liable to face. It's current form is due in substantial part to the republicans gutting it, so you can't really blame the dems for it not working very well.
John McCain, a Republican, famously voted to save the ACA during a time when the Republicans had a Congressional majority, even though his health was failing. He died shortly after the vote.
I was talking about the 2010 passage of the ACA, not the 2017 repeal attempt. The 2010 legislation was written by Democrats. Moreover, since as you mention, the Republican repeal attempt failed, it can't truly be said that Republicans have "gutted" the ACA. It is true that for some (dumb) reason the ACA gave significant power to the states, which has been abused by Republican governors and legislatures, but that was entirely the choice of the Democrats who wrote the ACA.
