Gavra, a thought for you:
How would your analogy go if someone without insurance was brought into an emergency room with a life threatening condition and the hospital administrator refused to treat him? Would you compare him with Yankel the grocer?
We know that when principals want to expel a student for behavior issues, they are told to dan it as pikuch nefashos. Does it suddenly become less of a pikuach nefesh issue if the reason is financial?