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The federal government doesn't have the best track record when it comes to projecting the cost of new government programs, according to U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts.
In 1967, government officials predicted that Medicare would cost the country $12 billion by 1990.
The actual cost of the program in 1990 was $98 billion, said Pitts, of Chester County, who represents the 16th Congressional District.
When the government in the early 1980s launched the idea of establishing a burial ground for nuclear waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain, the projected cost of researching the initiative was $6.3 billion.
According to Pitts, the actual cost of the work was $79 billion.
So when President Obama's team estimates that his proposed health care plan will cost $950 billion per year, Pitts wonders what the real bill will be.
"The lesson is clear," he told a group of about 100 people gathered for a town hall meeting Monday night at Cocalico Middle School in Denver. "Government programs rarely come in at projected cost, and this new proposal for government health care intrusion into the market is the same thing.
"It is going to bankrupt our system."
Government spending highlighted the topics Pitts discussed with audience members Monday.
In no uncertain terms, Pitts said, the government is living well beyond its means these days, sending the federal deficit into the stratosphere.
This year alone, he said, the government is expected to generate a $1.6 trillion deficit.
"This is immoral, and it should stop," Pitts said. "It must stop, or we're going to go over the cliff."
Ralph Cook, owner of Integrity Plastics in Denver, told Pitts he's not surprised that government spending is out of control because, he said, the cost of the necessities of life are spiraling out of control.
Cook's business spends $30,000 per month on electricity.
"I'm probably just a medium-sized guy, and this really hurts our business," he said.
Weber suggested that the government promote cheaper energy, primarily by pushing for the building of new nuclear power plants.
Pitts is the co-sponsor of House Resolution 3448, which seeks to spur the construction of new nuclear plants.
No nuclear plant has been built in the U.S. in the past 30 years.
Denver resident Myron Weber asked Pitts to deliver a message to his fellow lawmakers in Washington, D.C.
"Government should not run health care," Weber said. "They can't run any other type of business."
Weber suggested there are ways to improve the nation's health care system — such as allowing consumers to buy insurance from providers anywhere in the country, pushing for tort reform and cracking down on fraud — that leave health care in the hands of the private sector.
"My feeling is the administration is not interested in health care reform," he said. "This is about socialism."
