Losing the House for a decade was absolutely not worth any kind of legislation especially this considering 5 years later there are still no political benefits of the law. A lot of candidates are running away from it rather than running on it. Right now it's a liability for everyone who voted for it and is just fodder for the GOP. We could've done a much smaller and simpler reform with a Medicaid expansion and some guaranteed benefits.
You realize the GOP would have opposed that just as vehemently... last I checked Republicans oppose health care... it hurts business.