They DID NOT pass the ACA without the help of the GOP. Maybe you guys are taking the final vote at its face, but this was bipartisan legislation. Just because the GOP decided to renege at the very last second doesn't mean that the Democrats did it on their own. All the amendments that the GOP added to the ACA that the Democrats didn't have to let them add are a testament to that.
When you help shape the policy, you have skin in the game, and the GOP had skin in the game with the ACA. Now contrast this to the various GOP healthcare acts and them literally being locked in a basement for only the chosen few and their donors to see. THAT is what trying to pass a bill without the other side looks like.