Self-employed women can voluntarily insure themselves against loss of income during the maternity protection period through health insurance. Around half of self-employed women of childbearing age are insured accordingly. However, only around a quarter of self-employed women who have given birth have claimed maternity benefits from their health insurance. The total annual expenditure of health insurers on maternity benefits in 2021 and 2022 was 32.1 and 30.0 million euros respectively. If a regulation were introduced that would fully compensate all self-employed women who give birth for the loss of income during the maternity protection period, total expenditure of around 229 million euros would be expected.