I disagree. The changes made by the ACHA would have converted the ACA into a true bipartisan bill. It would have picked up its share of GOP support - unless you're of the view that the GOP back then - like the Dems now - would simply have refused to work with the party in power on anything whatsoever.
I think you're wrong here.
The absolute worst thing about the ACA wasn't the exchanges -- it was the creation of a new entitlement program in the form of Medicaid expansion and subsidies. That was going to be the core of
any Democrat plan, because the Progressives would have rebelled without that. The GOP was absolutely correct in going to the mattresses to try to defeat it, without giving it even a single vote in Congress. Cooperating on a bill that makes us a more statist country is a horrible idea, in any form. And the GOP actually did come very, very close to defeating it.
We should never, ever support a bill if we think it makes the status quo worse, and the enactment of the ACA did that. You don't "compromise" with Democrats to water down something we don't want in the first place.
You might argue that we'd have been "better off" making some concessions to get a slightly better bill, but I think that's wrong. The party-line opposition to the ACA paid huge electoral dividends, and gave us a Republican Congress. Having that Republican Congress meant that a bunch of things Obama wanted to do in terms of global warming, immigration, etc., couldn't get through Congress, and had to address via Executive Order, many of which are already being undone. And I'd say that our opposition to the ACA is what has presented us with an opportunity to, among other things, convert an entitlement to a block grant. If the GOP had "worked with" the Democrat to get a "better" ACA, we'd have had zero chance of ever repealing
any of it now. We'd own it just as much as they would.
Compromising with the AHCA may make sense because it would move the ball in
our direction. In contrast, passage of the ACA was always going to move the ball in
theirs.