MemorialCare Health System confirmed Thursday the hospital operator has laid off 130 employees, partly blaming the Affordable Care Act and Medi-Cal expansion for its financial challenges.

The layoffs involve people working at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital Long Beach and Community Hospital Long Beach. Management is informing employees of the layoffs Thursday and today.

In an emailed statement, MemorialCare Chief Executive John Bishop said the layoffs affect fewer than 3 percent of the hospitals’ staffing, which totals nearly 5,900 people, and mostly involves people working in nonclinical roles.

“Like many hospitals in California and nationwide, we are experiencing much higher costs, decreasing reimbursement and increasing numbers of government-sponsored patients,” Bishop said in the statement.

“Although the decision to rebalance a workforce is never an easy one, managing our resources prudently will allow us to be well positioned to serve our community into the future,” he continued.

MemorialCare also reported that management will help laid-off employees find new jobs and also provide those people with opportunities to apply for open positions within the company.

Cynthia Hanna of the California Nurses Association said the union did not yet have full details related to the layoffs as of mid-Thursday but had been informed the moves would affect 19 advanced practice nurses.

Brandy Welch, a pediatric nurse at Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital and a chief nurses representative in labor talks, said she and her colleagues consider themselves to already be understaffed in ways that could delay their responses to patients in need.

“We are about our patients first. We want them safe,” Welch said.

In response to questions, MemorialCare reported the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, created problems for the company since the law led to an expansion of Medi-Cal services in the state.

The expansion of Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, resulted in MemorialCare hospitals taking in greater volumes of needy patients despite receiving low reimbursement payments from the state.

“Medi-Cal historically has not reimbursed the hospital in an amount sufficient to cover our costs and we experienced a significant decrease in Medi-Cal reimbursement,” the hospital stated.