Officials of the National Federation of Independent Business predicted the court ruling will lead to massive job loss and closed businesses as the national health plan is rolled out.

The NFIB in a statement called the president's plan a "tax on all Americans" that amounts to a "broken campaign promise" from the Obama administration to not raise taxes. The court ruling, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., relied heavily on the government's taxation powers in allowing the law to stand.

"The power and control of health care decisions should be in the hands of the consumer, not the government," said Dan Danner, president and CEO of NFIB.

"We are concerned about the precedent that this will set in Congress' ability to mandate other aspects of our lives, but we will move forward from today to continue to fight, harder than ever, for real health care reform for our membership," he added.

In its 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate, the most controversial aspect of the Affordable Care Act, which requires all Americans to buy health care.

"This day will go down in history as the day when Americans lost a part of their freedom -- the freedom to choose what they want to buy with their own money," said Karen Harned, executive director of NFIB's Small Business Legal Center.