I fully admit I'm not the most knowledgeable about the law, and because of that I don't debate it much. However, my dad (who is the CFO of a small, private hospital) is not a fan. He thinks it is a sort of "moderate hero" (as Atlas would say!) option that 1) doesn't go far enough to address the real problem of so many uninsured people and at the same time is 2) a shade more "liberal" than he thinks would be the best solution. I've never had an in-depth conversation with him about it.
Accurate characterization. It does almost nothing, other than scoring as many cheap points for liberal Democrats as possible. The costs of obfuscated through layers of bureaucracy that few people can interpret, and the penalties and punishment for non-compliance are so onerous, no one wants them implemented.
Genuinely useless law. Democrats probably thought it would expand their power, allowing Democrat-controlled congresses to season to taste, but ACA did the opposite. It paved the way for Republican reactionaries in the House, and now the Executive Branch is clinging desperately to what remains of a mediocre attempt at reform.