A bout 10 miles west of the Green Mountains, in North Bennington, Vermont , stands a 155-year-old white farmhouse converted to a two-family home. While perhaps unremarkable from the front, it may be recognizable to visitors by the gray wooden arrow stuck in a bed of mulch outside, promising LOVE THIS WAY, or the giggles emanating from the backyard as an excited four-year-old named Jack tumbles down a plastic yellow slide toward his dad.

On a balmy day in mid-July, the blond, curly-haired Jack shows no sign of the child who, just a few months earlier, contracted a viral infection so unforgiving his parents feared for his life.

At the time, Jack and his parents, James and Rosie — 36 and 35, respectively — had no health insurance. (The couple requested the use of pseudonyms, including f

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