US retailers and restaurants on Thursday lambasted the US Supreme Court's ruling to uphold the contentious health care law, contending that it penalizes many companies by making them pay a fine if they do not insure employees.

Under the law, companies with 50 or more full-time employees are required to insure their employees on some level or pay a fine, a provision that analysts said prevents businesses from hiring amid an struggling economy.

"This law will have a dramatic, negative impact on every employer and employee in the United States and further constrain job creation and economic growth," said Matthew Shay, chief of National Retail Federation (NRF), on Thursday.

The law that emerged in 2010 was a "controversial and partisan measure riddled with punitive mandates" and penalties were "as unreasonable as they were unworkable," Shay said.

He added that it does not do enough to reduce the cost of health care and that the phone-book sized bill is "unreasonably complicated" and "difficult to implement and administer."

"As it stands, the law wrongly focuses more on penalizing employers and the private sector than reducing health costs. For these reasons, NRF has been a consistent skeptic of the Affordable Care Act," he said.

The NRF is the world's largest retail trade association, representing a myriad of retailers from the United States and more than 45 countries worldwide.

Retailers operate more than 3.6 million US establishments that support one in four US jobs -- 42 million Americans -- contributing 2.5 trillion US dollars to the annual GDP, he said.

Meanwhile, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) on Thursday blasted the law for similar reasons.

"Today's ruling by the Supreme Court is troubling for restaurant operators and business owners across the country," said NRA president and CEO Dawn Sweeney.

"We encourage Congress to continue efforts to repeal the law," she said, arguing against the requirement levied on employers.

The United States is home to hundreds of thousands of franchises and employers fret that the health care law will burden them with extra costs, cut already weak profits, and ultimately stifle hiring.

"The cost of such coverage or the penalties could threaten the very slim profit margin on which most restaurants operate," Sweeney said.

Just hours after the Court's ruling, Republicans vowed to redouble their efforts to repeal the law if president candidate Mitt Romney was elected.

"I will act to repeal Obamacare," Romney said in a speech, promising to set the wheels in motion his first day in office.

The presidential contender reiterated Republicans' stance that the law is a "jobs killer". The GOP contends the law will make hiring new employees too costly for small companies, thus slowing jobs growth -- and add trillions of dollars to the US deficit.

In a speech a couple of hours after the ruling, US President Barack Obama called it a "victory for people all over this country whose lives will be more secure because of this law," adding that "no illness or accident should lead to any family's financial ruin."

Democrats say the law will ensure millions of uninsured Americans and cut costs. They tout provisions such as barring companies from refusing coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, as well as allowing those under the age of 26 to remain on their parents' insurance plans.