MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- Gov. Robert Bentley said today that he is deeply disappointed in the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding parts of the Affordable Care Act.

The justices upheld the polarizing centerpiece of the healthcare legislation that has an individual mandate for people to purchase health insurance.

"I am deeply disappointed by today's Supreme Court decision. The health care law is an overreach by the federal government that creates more regulation, bureaucracy, and a dramatic increase in costs to taxpayers," Bentley said in a prepared statement.

"The ACA is the single worst piece of legislation to come out of Congress. This law must be repealed. People need more choices, not fewer choices. Bigger government is not the answer. Market-based solutions are the best solutions to giving the public the most affordable options," Bentley said.

Bentley's morning statement did not specifically address what the state will do on Medicaid after justices ruled that the federal government could encourage but not force to expand their programs. The Affordable Care Act was expected to add up to a half million people to Alabama's Medicaid rolls as eligibility was expanded to 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

Bentley Deputy Communications Director Jeremy King said the administration has concerns about whether the state can afford the Medicaid expansion.

"We don't know that the state can afford it. We have serious concerns about the increased costs associated with expanding entitlement programs, but we need to understand the larger implications of the ruling as a whole before deciding the best course of action," King said in an e-mail.

Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard called the ruling "a victory for government-loving bureaucrats," but said the silver lining is the state can't be forced to participate in the Medicaid expansion.

"Today's ruling is a victory for government-loving bureaucrats and a loss for taxpayers and small businesses," Hubbard, R-Auburn, said.

"If there is a silver lining to this ruling it is that the federal government may not penalize Alabama if we cannot afford to participate in this expansion of government. That's important because, with our budgets already strapped for funds, the last thing we need is a mass increase in Medicaid healthcare costs," Hubbard said.

The Alabama Hospital Association issued a statement saying that "regardless of opinions about the Affordable Care Act," that it would have had disastrous consequences for the court to just strike the individual mandate, or another section, alone since the sections of the law are supposed to work together.

"For example, under the Affordable Care Act, the payments made to hospitals to cover the cost of caring for the uninsured are scheduled to be reduced as more Americans obtain health care coverage. If the individual mandate or the Medicaid expansion had been struck, hospitals would have found themselves caring for patients without adequate reimbursement," the association said.

The court ruling won praise from the group, Arise Citizens Policy Project. "The U.S. Supreme Court's decision is a huge victory that gives the hundreds of thousands of Alabamians who are without health insurance a chance for access to better health care and a better quality of life. Americans want the health care security that the law gives," said Policy Project Executive Director Kimble Forrister

"The court's ruling also gives advocates opportunity to debunk misinformation about the law and explain what the ACA really does and does not do," Forrister said. "We believe when people really understand the law, they will be pleased," he said.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said he strongly disagreed with the decision and said it will have "dire" consequences for individuals and businesses.

"The individual mandate was sold to the American people as a penalty when it was proposed, but is now ruled constitutional as a tax, the very thing the Obama Administration and Congress insisted it was not," Strange said.

Alabama was one of 26 states that went to court to try to get the law overturned

Rosemary Elebash, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said her organization was "disappointed" in the decision but respects the justices' decision. The National Federation of Independent Business was a lead plaintiff trying to get law overturned.

She called the mandate a "tax on all Americans."

"Under the health-care law, small-business owners are going to face an onslaught of taxes and mandates, resulting in job loss and closed businesses. NFIB will continue to fight for the repeal of health-care in the halls of Congress," Elebash said.

"The power and control of health-care decisions should be in the hands of the consumer, not the government."

Additional comments added at 11:50 a.m.