<prompt> Human: A few weeks ago, my brother left on what I can only describe as some kind of vision quest and hopped on a bus to go more than halfway across the country.A week or two later, I got a phone call from a local credit union from my hometown fishing for information on him. I gave up very little info and immediately called my mom who had been giving him a place to stay for the last few months and discovered that my brother is apparently up to his eyeballs in debt.I love my brother. Deeply. He is a good person who for some reason just cannot deal with the realities of having a job. He is otherwise responsible, loyal, generous, thoughtful and caring to a fault. He isnt the slightest bit afraid to work. But hes prone to reading self-help books and philosophizing and just...Im getting off topic.The point is that he has a pile of medical bills that have been a critical factor in his bouts of depression and anxiety, and my parents have allowed him to run off without dealing with it. They themselves have buried their heads in the sand, more or less. With my sisters help, I now have some of that billing information. I have resolved to start paying this off myself.TL;DR: Facts-- Brother has reached a point where he could not emotionally cope with his debt and has run off to the coast.- Debt exceeds 6,000. Assuming normal weeks, this is roughly three months of my pay after taxesmedical insurance. However, I have enough available credit to pay this off today if I so choose, without coming close to maxing out my credit limits.- Debt is in the hands of a collection agency.What do I need to know to handle this situation smoothly? Is calling the collections agency and just beginning to make payments a reasonable option?EDIT: Going by the numerous judgmental comments, I did not elaborate enough on this issue. I was very tired when I made this post and I apologize. That said:- This debt is exclusively medical.- Outside of the medical bills my brother is a good and responsible person. He pays rent at home, he pays for his phone bill. He buys his own food and gas with money he earns doing odd jobs or occasionally working at our local YMCA. He struggles with the routine of feeling attached to a place or job and while I do not share his struggle I very much empathize with it.- This is anecdotal, but several years ago my brother also gave me access to his Steam account and asked me to change the passwords so he would stop using it.- My brother helps around the house, keeps his room spotless, and has a dog that he adores and takes good care of. He is frugal and careful with purchasing anything.- He has been struggling with depression, anxiety, manic episodes and suicidal tendencies for years. If anyone has watched Shameless, the younger redheaded brothers behavior reminded me of my younger brother, though the show is a more extreme example.- My brother is several thousand miles away.Again, TL;DR: Please stop telling me not to help him. I literally dont care and youre not going to change my mind. My brother acquired these medical bills due to hospital stays related to suicide attempts, and I will give away far more money than he owes if it makes the difference between keeping my brother or keeping a tombstone.Assistant: Your brother should call. He has the upper hand on the creditors since he has no assets or income. He can negotiate lower repayment amounts and could threaten or go through with bankruptcy. You possibly dont even have the right to discuss anything with the debt collection agency.If your brothers anxiety and depression arent currently well-managed, he may find it difficult to plan out how to deal with the creditors, and therefore be avoiding the task. You can absolutely help out with that. Maybe encourage him to decide who to phone first, rehearse what he will say, be there with him when he makes the first call, etc.Edit: spelling.Human: Thank you for the suggestion. For clarity, my brother is several thousand miles away right now and this isnt something that I want to deal with over the phone.Part of the problem is also that his relationship with my parents is strained, at best. My dad used to be a financial advisor and could have likely helped him with this but they are...not on the best terms.As of right now the debt is exclusively medical debt incurred due to incidents over the past few years related to the aforementioned depression and anxiety. There was also at least one botched suicide attempt that led to a hospital stay.I know that everyone in this thread is assuming that my brother is a lazy freeloader or something, but the simple fact is that this is overwhelming him to the point that hes nearly killed himself and he essentially has gone off the grid rather than continue to deal with it. Im not attempting to take care of this just to make his life easier or to enable him. Im attempting to take care of this so that five years from now I still have a brother.  <response>: I totally get it. And that is how your post comes across. But the underlying mental health issues wont go away any time soon. Your brother appears to need help and maybe there is a better use for your money than paying off his old medical debt. Like: counseling, cognitive behavioral therapy, rehab if he also has substance abuse problems. 