Not that I agree with their policies, but I think it’s more a case of federations wanting to focus all their resources (coaches, training camps, masseuses, back up admin staff etc etc) on those with chances of medals and finals than spreading them out to athletes without any hope of progression
There’s obviously a dollar/euro/pound cost involved, but the countries who set extra barriers to Olympic qualification are generally quite wealthy so I don’t think that’s the overriding issue (even if they claim it is)