Are there any companies out there that will insure an individual's
stock holdings, so that for a fixed annual premium they will take over
all or most of the individual's risk. If so, please provide details of
the companies, average annual cost of policies and any patents that
are held in this area.

Note: I am not refering to stock brokers offering option strategies
that will have the same effect, or institutions offering guranteed
investments products. What I am after is something closer to the
traditional insurance model.

I cannot find any information for any companies that insure stocks.

I would sugest that you look into Variable Pre-paid Forward Contracts.
These contracts offer downside protection (a floor on your stock
price) and participation in the upside if the stock price increases.

Though options are used by the brokerage house offering this contract
to hedge, the client would not see any of it in this tax liabilities.
Usually the contracts works if you have a sizable ($3 million or more)
concentrated position in a high risk stock.

This link offers more information about this contract.

http://www.cmsfs.com/pdfs/having_your_cake.pdf#search='having%20your%20cake%20and%20hedging%20it%20too'

Hope this helps.