I believe you will find that the FAA has not completed a “ cost of life” study for the different categories of airspace.
The airspace has simply evolved over a hundred years of experience with a lot of aircraft, high mountains and extreme weather conditions.
Also a wealthy and quite litigious society where no one wants to die in an aircraft accident.
The end result in the view of many people is a very safe and affordable system that encourages high participation levels.
And the VOR post is clearly as valid today as it was when it was written.