"At work," he said, "the single guys say our insurance is good. Well, it's good for them, because they don't have kids, or don't get sick. When you have a kid who's chronically sick, it's totally different."

On his long days, Mr. Dorsett usually skips lunch rather than spend $6 or $7 at a fast food restaurant. He wishes he could take the family to the Grand Canyon, or afford a house where the girls could have their own bedrooms. But when asked about his sacrifices, he said the luxury he missed most was time, not money. "Zach and I had no relationship until two years ago," he said. "Dakota hardly ever talked to me. I was putting in 80, 90 hours a week, not having a relationship with my children."

While Mr. Dorsett works, Mrs. Dorsett juggles child care with the seemingly endless wrangling with insurance companies and, until the bankruptcy filing, with creditors.

Managing a Medical Mystery

On an August morning at home, Mrs. Dorsett prepared a lunch of corn dogs and macaroni and cheese while Zachery got ready for soccer camp. By all appearances, he is a healthy-looking boy with a somber disposition. Though he has missed as many as 42 days in a school year because of illness, he has friends and keeps up with his classes, his mother said. His worst problem at school, she said, is pushing himself too hard.

Until earlier this year, no one knew what was wrong with him. His immune disorder, known as common variable immune deficiency, can be detected through a simple blood test, but as Mrs. Dorsett took him from doctor to doctor, usually with small problems that would not go away, the doctors looked elsewhere. Some treated only the immediate symptoms; others made Mrs. Dorsett feel she was overtreating her child.

"I felt there was something wrong," she said. "But you can't walk into a doctor's office and say you think you know what it is because you saw it online. They're the ones with the prescription pads, and I didn't want to make them mad."

As the family went from one doctor to the next, without a diagnosis of the root problem, the insurance company often questioned the expenses. Why did Zachery need four doctor visits or five rounds of antibiotics for an ailment that most children shook off in a couple of days? Mrs. Dorsett spent days on the phone, often in voice-mail loops, and often long-distance, pleading her case.