Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Gross has his own idea for reducing prescription drug costs for Iowa seniors. Democrat Governor Tom Vilsack says it’s time for the state to force the big drug companies to offer discounts to Iowa seniors that’re identical to the discounts on prescription for Iowa Medicaid recipients. Vilsack says the discounts, rebates actually, would be handled through the state program established last year to secure cheaper prescription drugs for Iowa’s senior citizens. Doug Gross, the Republican candidate for Governor, says that program has been a “cruel hoax” that’s turned out to be more “rhetoric than results.” Gross says the way to reduce prescription drug costs is to form a partnership with the thousands of state employees, private insurance companies and the senior citizens who’ve signed up for the “Iowa Priority” prescription drug program. He says that partnership could leverage lower drug prices.