You won't find bulbs cheaper (on any projector) and only a handful of projectors will do 3000+ hours on a bulb, so this is quite normal.
I had to spend twice as much on a used Optoma H76 to significationly better the Panasonic new, and it does 3000 hours in Economy mode but the bulbs are more expensive.
If your worried about bulb life keep your CRT for daytime viewing and walking around the house(my ex-girlfirends favorite thing to do) and and use the projector for nights/movies/occasions. I only put 700 hours on in 2 years on my last projector but now I've put 300 hours on three months (it much more enjoyable now that I have HDTV and DVD's and I don't have to mess with my HTPC.
2.75 hours a day 365 days a year for 2 years = 2000 hours. (my two prior rear projections broke down and cost more to repair in that same time frame)